Riverdale:1924
by GracieHoltzbertTrash715
Summary: (Alternate Universe) Takes place during the Prohibition. The heavy ban on alcohol and drugs seems to heat up this criminally driven town to a whole new level. Robberies, murders, smugglings, prostitution, love affairs, and more. Join the citizens of Riverdale as they are faced with changes to their secluded town closed off from the rest of the world. / Contains some adult content
1. Headache

The morning silence was broken by the sounds of a female groaning with a hint of exhaustion and hangover as the sun's rays seeped through her curtains, blinding her the morning after she'd had a bit too much to drink. Her naked body, wrapped up in her ivory, satin sheets tossed and turned, slowly attempting to get up. It wasn't until her hand slid across the man's bare chest beside her that she remembered she was not alone last night when she came home. She groaned once more, successfully sitting up and carefully standing, the ringing in her ears from her pounding headache metastasizing as she made her way over to the Victorian curtains and shutting them tightly, letting out a sigh of relief as she was able to open her eyes a bit more after being greeted by the darkness again. On her bed, the dark haired man slowly blinked his eyes open at her absence and he smiled at her once he made out where she was in the room.

"Good morning, beautiful." He said to the blonde woman, his hands resting under his head on the pillow.

"Morning, handsome." She tried to fight off the splitting pain in her head as she saw him. "Though I can't say it's a good one." She put a hand up to her temple, rubbing it a little.

"I told you not to have those last three drinks last night."

"Don't start with the 'I told you so' shit, FP. I was celebrating last night." She justified, slowly making her way around to his side of the bed and straddling him. She slid one of her long, newly manicured nails down the center of his chest. "Besides...if I hadn't celebrated so much last night...you might not have woken up in here, huh?" She teased him with a playful grin.

Forsythe Pendleton Jones the Second smirked up at Alice as his hands fell to her bare thighs. "Oh, is that right?" He chuckled.

"Mhm." She said, biting her bottom lip through a smile that suggested she knew differently and she tried to hide it.

"Oh, really?" FP quickly wrapped his arms around her, flipping them over so he was hovering over her and she squealed as he did before their lips met and her head hit the pillows underneath them.

Alice groaned into the kiss and when they pulled away, she apologized. "I'm sorry. I really shouldn't have had those last three drinks last night." She finally admitted and brought a hand up to her forehead.

"Mhm." FP nodded, holding back a laugh. "Let me go make you some of that magic tea Gladys used to swear by." He moved off of her, getting off the bed and looking around the room for his clothes thrown about, pulling them on as he walked around.

Alice slowly sat up in the bed again, hugging her knees to her chest as she watched him with an adorable smile. "Did you feel this amazing when she finally signed the papers?"

FP turned to look back at her. "I did." He grinned. "But I feel even more amazing now that you and Hal did too." He walked back over to the bed, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead. "I love you, Alice Smith."

She smiled up at him, kissing him on the lips directly after. "And I love you, FP Jones."

"I'll be right back." He spoke in a soft voice before leaving her room and heading down to the kitchen to make the love of his life some magic hangover tea.

The tea was made by Blossom Maple Industries. The Blossoms were known mostly for their maple syrup, but their company also made other products, such as teas, oils, soaps, and even illegally made alcohol. There was word of them running a bit of a drug cartel as well, but since the product in the town of Riverdale did not have any labels on it...no one had any proof that it was the Blossom family who had produced Jingle Jangle or the other drug candy, known as Fizzle Rocks. People were shocked enough as it is that the Blossoms put their label on their whiskeys and brandys….considering the Prohibition had banned all selling and making of alcohol products and most other companies caught doing so were shut down immediately and the CEOs were arrested. But luckily enough, Riverdale was a small enough town that the newly found FBI did not pay much attention to its illegalities in the running of the Northside and Southside divided village.

When FP came back upstairs, Alice was in her pink, silky robe, leaning her back against the headboard of her giant canopy bed. He brought a tray of tea and little breakfast snacks over to her, setting it up in front of her before sitting on the bed beside her again and he watched her eat and drink a bit before finally speaking. "Are you still thinking about my question?"

"What question?" She asked, pretending to be clueless.

"Come on, Alice. You know what question." He said, simultaneously hurt and annoyed.

"I...I don't know, FP. It's too soon. My divorce just went through yesterday." Alice responded, taking a bite of toast.

"Yes, but Alice we've been doing this a lot longer than yesterday." He sighed.

"Shhh! My kids are right down the hall." Alice whispered to him.

He put an arm around her, over her stomach and kissed her shoulder. "Come on, Ali. They love their Uncle FP better than their own dad anyways. I think they'd love it if we moved in together."

"Maybe….Yes...But they might not enjoy leaving this house. They love it here." She took a sip of tea, humming right after as it soothed her head a bit.

FP lifted his head from her shoulder to look at the side of her face. "You mean you do." He pulled away with a small scoff and a pained chuckle. "You don't wanna leave this big, fancy mansion behind. You love looking wealthy and living this way too much to come live with me and my poor son."

"FP don't you dare turn this into one of those arguments again. You know I don't care about the money."

"Don't even say that to me, Alice. The money is the reason you left the Southside in the first place." FP shook his head, moving further away from her on the bed. "You used to be proud of being a Southsider. Being a Serpent used to be how you showed off. Now it's all this."

"FP, can we have this conversation some other time? Preferably when it doesn't feel like my head's about to explode? Please?" Alice begged, rubbing her temple again.

"Fine. Sure. I'll forget it." He put his feet over the side of the bed with his back to her, looking down at the floor, sulking a little.

Alice looked at him for a while with a sad sigh and she moved the tray to the foot of the large bed before kneeling behind FP, running her hands up and down his back, kissing his neck from behind, humming against his skin and she whispered. "I'm sorry, baby." She kissed his shoulder, running a hand through his hair. "I just worked so hard to get to where I am. Yes, I love this house. But it's not because it makes me look good or rich." She kissed the spot just under his ear. "I love it, because it's my dream home and in it, I was able to give the girls the life I always wanted." She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him from behind for a while, resting her chin on his shoulder. "Why don't you and Jughead move in here? I think you'll like it."

FP sighed, still looking down at the floor and when she kissed his shoulder one last time, he closed his eyes. "But it's not me, Alice." He stood up and turned to look down at her still kneeling on the bed. "I would never live in a place like this. And frankly, neither would Jughead. He's too….weird and unique for a massive house like this. And if you can't accept that, then...maybe we need to rethink all of this." He shook his head with another sigh and grabbed his shoes from the floor near the bed. "I gotta go." He started for the door.

Alice opened her mouth to beg him to say, but no sound came out and he left, walking down the large corridor, passing Elizabeth's room on the left and Polly's room on the right, going down the massive marble staircase. The two doormen held the double doors open for him while he pulled his jacket back on and stepped outside passing the giant ivory pillars on the mansion's porch. He went down the stairs and his eyes landed on the beautifully built water fountain in front of the multi-million dollar home in the driveway, making his way to his vehicle. He opened his truck door, getting one last look up at the massive home and his eyes fell to Alice's bedroom window.

There she stood, holding the curtains open in her robe, looking down at him and they made eye contact through the window before FP sighed and got in his truck, driving away as Alice's pounding headache continued to bother her and silent tears fell down her cheeks.

She closed the curtains and sadly went back into the bed, hugging herself and crawling under the covers, closing her eyes to try and fall asleep again.


	2. Bumblebee

That night, Pop's Chock-Litt Shoppe had a full parking lot, cars flowing in from all directions. Some were filled with families, some were filled with teenage couples going on small little dates and others were filled with higher class people, dressed in evening gowns and tuxedos, going through the back door, telling Nate Tate, Pop Tate's nephew, the password for the night to get into the speakeasy below the diner.

FP showed up in one of three old tuxedos he had, his hair gelled back and his facial hair a little more groomed as he stepped up to the door. "Hello, Nate."

"Hello, Mr Jones. How's Jughead?" Pop's nephew asked.

"He's not too bad. Still a little upset over the divorce, but he's coming around, I think." FP admitted.

"Hey, if you need me to talk to him, I can. I also went through some shit when my parents split up." Nate offered.

"Thank you. I might take you up on that." He chuckled.

Nate nodded with a smile. "Password?"

FP leaned in to whisper to him like all guests had to. "Bumblebee."

Nate smiled even more and moved over, letting FP in before blocking the door again, waiting for others to arrive, giving him the password.

When FP made it down the stairs into the poorly lit basement of Pop's, he looked around at the Blackjack tables, his eyes falling to the stage where five or six flapper girls danced to the upbeat music filling the speakeasy. He smirked to himself, remembering the old days when he would have "fun" with girls like that and his mind immediately fell to Alice, causing his smile to vanish and he went over to sit at the bar, asking for a soda pop.

"What? No tequila?" Penelope Blossom asked, walking up behind him in an elaborately feathered red dress. She brushed her breasts up against FP's shoulder as she moved to sit on the stool beside him. "You're not still listening to everything Alice Cooper says, are you?"

"Penelope." FP sighed, rolling his eyes as he looked at the red head beside him. "No. I'm just trying my best to stay away from all that shit."

"If that were really true, FP...you wouldn't be here. This is a speakeasy….this place is for people who want alcohol. If you want cream soda, go upstairs with all the giddy teenagers and boring families that make me sick." She said, taking a sip of her cocktail, looking him seductively in the eyes. "Unless you're here for...something else." She smirked.

He rolled his eyes again. "I'm not." He scoffed.

"Oh, come on. One more time won't hurt." She leaned a little closer to whisper to him. "Didn't we have fun last time?"

The bartender came over with FP's soda at that moment and he ignored her, picking up the glass and taking a sip. "Like I said before, Pen...that was a one time thing. And that was before Ali and I got back together."

"Oh, so she's Ali again?" She chuckled. "Never thought I'd hear that name come from your lips after what happened back in high school." She sighed, sipping her drink again. "It's a shame. I could show you a real good time."

"Penelope, you and I are never happening again, alright? Last year shouldn't have even happened."

"I wasn't talking about me." Penelope smirked.

"I'm not interested in any of your brothel girls." FP said clearly, never looking at the woman beside him again.

"No? Not even my new girl?"

"Who's your new girl?" FP asked, sounding more than annoyed at this point and he finally turned to look at Penelope whose smirk had grown and she pointed across the room. FP sighed, rolling his eyes over to see the slim blonde in a short gold dress. The dress was covered in sequins, making her sparkle more than anyone else in the entire speakeasy. The dress was so short that it barely covered her ass and she wore a black feather boa around her back, resting it on her forearms. Her hair was half up in a bun and half down, curled perfectly in some places. FP couldn't help but look her up and down, her hot pink high heels accenting the perfect curves in her calves. The fishnets she wore had diamonds up the backs of her legs and Forsythe couldn't stop himself from licking his lips. Penelope watched FP eye the girl across the room and she smirked, looking at FP as if he was her wallet for the night.

Soon, her new brothel girl turned her head a bit and FP could see her profile and he sighed, looking down and shaking his head. "Penelope."

"Yes, Forsythe?" Penelope responded, facing forward with a smile as if she were clueless, drinking more of her cocktail.

"What is she doing working for you?" FP asked the red head.

"What? She came to my brothel asking for a job...I was resistant at first, but once she told me that no one would hire a woman in her field and that she had made three hundred bucks in just two nights doing what we do...I wasn't gonna say no to her. Penny Peabody can do what she wants. I don't own her. You don't own her. She can make her own decisions." She shrugged, taking another sip of her drink.

FP sighed before standing and going over to Penny, interrupting her conversation with some guy. "Penny." He grabbed her forearm, pulling her away and to a corner of the room. "What are you doing?" He looked down at her short gold dress again before looking back up into her eyes.

"What, Jonesy?" Penny rolled her eyes. "I'm just here to have a good time."

"No...I mean what are you doing working for Penelope Blossom as a prostitute?" FP asked quietly, looking around.

"I need money, FP. And after you kicked me out of the Serpents...I have no clients. And no one around here will hire a female lawyer. It may be the '20's, but us women still got a long way to go." She took a sip from the champagne glass she held. "You were the only one who gave me a chance. But even you got rid of me. So, becoming a 'lady of the night' is all I've got."

"No, it isn't, Penny. You're smart. You can do whatever you want." He said almost in a sad tone.

"Yes. And I am...This is what I want. Now, if you'd excuse me...I have a client I need to discuss some prices with." She looked FP up and down a little sadly as if her true self was present for a moment, before rolling her eyes and going back to the man she was with, her flirty mood resurfacing.

FP sighed and shook his head, going back to the bar to get his soda, but he looked around the place, realizing there was really no reason for him to be here when all he wanted was to see Alice. He left some money on the bar and started for the stairs when suddenly, the entire speakeasy went silent, looking up at the stairs as Alice Smith entered, coming down them with a carefree attitude. She wore an orange snakeskin romper with a long cape flowing down her highly exposed legs in the back. She walked in golden high heels, designed with snakes as well as a golden snake necklace that hung around her neck. FP now knew why the entire place had frozen as he did as well. This was the first time anyone had seen Alice in anything like that since high school. As shocked as he was at first, the moment she made eye contact with him, he smiled, stepping up to the bottom step and taking her hand, helping her down the last few steps.

"What are you all looking at? You've never seen a Serpent Queen before?" Alice asked with an attitude and a smirk.

FP's smile grew even more before he spoke quietly, their arms powerfully linked together. "That's my girl."


	3. The Return

The sound of laughter and music filled the speakeasy, accompanied by the light clouds of smoke engulfing the air with the scent of alcohol and expensive perfume. The flappers on their break, stepped off the stage, mingling into the crowd and flirting easily with the wealthy bachelors who gave them the attention. Over in a corner of the open room, Alice and FP sat in a booth, laughing together while also failing to keep their hands and lips to themselves.

"Mr. Jones and Miss Smith." A familiar voice sounded nearby.

Alice and FP looked up at the couple who had come over to join them. "Mary...Fred. How are you?" FP asked his old high school buddy and his wife.

"Mind if we sit here? This place is packed tonight." Fred said in his navy blue suit, Mary's arm wrapped around his.

"Be our guest." Alice gestured toward the big space in the booth. Mary sat first, sliding close to Alice as Fred sat beside her on the outside, leaving the fiery redhead and the golden blonde ladies sandwiched between both men. "How is Archibald?" Alice asked once they were comfortable.

"He's doing well. He just added trumpet to his list of instruments." Mary said proudly, though there was a hint of reluctant concern in her voice. "Sometimes I worry he's going to tire himself out. First the guitar, then the harmonica, then the saxophone, now this? Watch him come home tomorrow night asking us for bagpipes." Mrs. Andrews joked as she pulled a slim cigarette out of her small pocket book and she placed it between her lips, allowing it to hang there while she took her lighter to it.

"Have you guys heard about what happened with Pop?" Fred wondered as he put his arm around his wife's shoulders.

"No. What happened?" FP asked, his own hand on Alice's lower back, threatening to move down even more.

"He had to sell this place." Fred said as he looked around the speakeasy, taking it all in before whoever bought it would change it.

"What? Why?" Alice asked a little sadly.

"He's going bankrupt. At least that's what we heard." Mary said before taking a drag of her cigarette.

"From who?" FP wondered.

"We overheard him talking to Nate about a new buyer and something about business not being the same since that new place opened up across town." Fred explained.

"What new place? Where? The Southside? I haven't seen or heard anything about this." FP said with a bit of uneasiness.

"Well...It opened up about a month ago. You really haven't heard anything? You live over there." Fred tilted his head a bit.

"Actually...for the past month I've been spending more time at Alice's place. And Jughead's usually with you and Archie or with his mother. So I haven't really been to the Southside that much. What's this place called?"

"The Whyte Wyrm, I guess. I can't believe you really don't know about it. It's apparently run by the Serpents." Mr. Andrews responded as he waved over a waitress who had a tray full of champagne glasses and he took one for himself and handed another to Mary who thanked him.

"There's no way that's true. The Serpents haven't been doing well financially." FP thought about it. "Unless…." He looked across the room at the bar, where Penny Peabody was flirting with a new guy and he stood. "Excuse me a moment."

"Where are you going?" Alice asked him, holding his hand so he couldn't leave and her eyes looked over at Penny with a glare.

"I just have to go ask someone something. I'll be right back." He moved to leave, but Alice didn't let go of his hand as she stood up and kissed him hotly.

When she broke the kiss, she looked him in the eyes and spoke quietly so only he could hear her. "Don't forget who your Queen is." Her deep blue eyes shifted back and forth between his brown ones as if challenging him.

FP took Alice's chin between two of his fingers and he smirked, looking down at her outfit. "I could never, baby girl." He smiled at her and winked before giving her a quick peck kiss and he went over to Penny whose eyes fell to him and she immediately rolled them.

"What now, Forsythe?" Peabody asked with a hint of attitude.

FP wasted no time in take Penny's forearm, forcibly pulling her away from the guy at the bar and he spoke quietly to her, but with authority. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm working." She said, her eyes falling to the stranger at the bar. "Why does it matter to you anyway?"

"No! I mean...what are you trying to do by buying a speakeasy for the Serpents with your sex money?" He said with certainty that it was her. "You're not rejoining us no matter what you do, Penny. Buying your trust back from all of them won't mean you've bought it back from me. I'm the king and I decide whether you come back or not. And as of right now….you're never coming back."

"Hmmm….I wouldn't be so sure if I were you." Penny winked at him, patting his chest and she went back to the bar, flirting with the guy again as if nothing ever happened, though her eyes flicked to FP once more before she forced herself to forget him completely.

FP watched her for a bit, letting out an annoyed sigh and he turned to head back to Alice, Fred, and Mary, but Alice was already on her way over to him. "Was it her?" She asked him, her eyes staying fixed on Penny.

"She didn't confirm or deny it." He said with a sigh.

Alice sighed as well and turned to say something to FP when everyone in the room began to murmur and whisper to each other for the second time that night. FP and Alice looked around, trying to figure out what everyone must've been looking at and they saw the newly arriving couple making their way down the last two steps together.

"Hiram?" FP whispered.

"Hermione?" Alice whispered at the exact same time.

Without even hesitating, FP and Alice stepped over to the other couple to greet them. "Hey, you two." Alice said when they made it to the Lodges. "It's been almost ten years. What happened? Did you two get sick of New York?" Though Alice was pretending to be nice, she looked Hermione up and down, silently judging her in her super expensive champagne colored gown that was elegantly designed with black and silver rhinestones.

"FP and Alice..I thought you two were married." Hermione gave Alice the same condescending smile. "To other people."

Alice let out a small chuckle, showing Hermione her empty ring finger. "We're both divorced now." She said with a large grin on her face as she rested her arm up on FP's shoulder, sticking a hip out and smirking at Hiram. "I heard you two were getting one as well."

"Oh, Alice….Nothing seems to get passed you intrusive journalists, huh?" Hiram said with a snarky tone. "We changed our minds, giving this a second chance. Why would you want to know anyway?"

"Oh, come on, Mr. Lodge." The blonde said with smug smile. "The whole world heard about your affair with that Ms. Maria Mulwray. It made all the papers in America." Alice's eyes fell to Hermione, though her smile never faded and she looked down at Hermione's hand on her hip, seeing the giant diamond ring she wore on her finger. "Minnie, I admire your commitment to your marriage, even though Hiram here never did." She glared at Hiram.

"And Alice, I've always admired your commitment to shame other people rather than focusing on your own wrongdoings." Hermione said, giving Alice the same smug grin.

"Oh, I never said you did anything wrong, Hermione." Alice replied. "I'm just a little surprised that such a strong and independent woman like you would stay in a relationship with someone like Hiram."

"You have no room to speak." Hermione grabbed a glass of champagne from the tray a passing waiter held up on his shoulder. The Hispanic woman took a small sip of her drink before glaring even harder at Alice. "How's Hal?" She smirked immediately, knowing Alice would not enjoy the knowledge that everyone in America had also heard of her own husband's wrongdoings. "I hear prison is great this time of year." Hermione added one more dig to her statement, hoping Alice would finally get the point and shut up.

But of course, she did not.

Alice's smile faded at the mention of Hal's name and it came back immediately as she spoke. "At least I actually divorced such a disgusting slime ball and didn't stay with him for his money." Her eyes flicked to Hiram again.

FP rolled his eyes. "Alright...enough. What are you two doing back in Riverdale?"

"Oh, we've moved back….Permanently." Hiram grinned, taking Hermione's glass from her to have a sip of the champagne himself and he handed it back to her, their dangerous eyes locking for a moment, the extreme sexual tension they've had since high school, still clearly present.

Alice rolled her eyes this time, confused at how they could still be together after all of the scandals she read about in the New York Times. First, there were rumors of abuse between the both of them. Then...there were rumors of Hiram laundering money from the company they ran together and Hermione was not getting her cut of the finances because of him. Then..there were the rumors that Veronica, their daughter, was in fact...not Hiram's daughter after all. Alice even remembered the rumors of Hermione owning a mansion of her own in the Hamptons where she met with mistresses of her own. That's right….Mistresses. The blonde Serpent Queen studied Hermione in that moment down in Pop's speakeasy, trying to figure out if any of those rumors could've been true, but she had lost her touch with her old high school friend. She could no longer read Hermione like she used to.

"Why would you move back to this small town, Hiram? We have nothing so great to offer to you and your wealth" FP pointed out.

"Oh, this town has a lot more potential than you realize, FP Jones." Hiram said with a grin and he looked over, seeing Penelope Blossom speaking to Michael Minetta, an old friend of his. "Excuse us. We'd rather not spend our entire night catching up with only the two of you." Hiram sent Alice and FP one last pompous grin and he and Hermione both stepped around them, heading over to Penelope and Minetta.

"Wow." Alice said under her breath, watching them move away from them.

"They haven't changed a bit." FP said with a hint of annoyance.

"No….No, they haven't." Alice said, though in her mind, she was thinking differently. She had noticed a bit of a change in Hermione. Though she couldn't pinpoint to what it was so she kept it to herself. For now.


	4. An Invitation

The morning after the Lodges returned to Riverdale, Alice made her way down her large marble staircase to the small elegantly carved white wood table beside the great big double doors into her mansion. "Good morning, Madam." Her butler, Lionel, came in from the kitchen. "What can I do for you this morning? Shall I make you the tea for your morning headaches?"

"No, thank you, Lionel. I don't have one this morning. Hardly had anything to drink last night." She smiled and winked at him before he chuckled. "I'm just checking my mail." Alice said as she picked up the pile of envelopes sitting on the white table near the doors. She began to flip through them, sighing or rolling her eyes every now and then, especially when she saw one from her mother in California. "Probably another note from her telling me that Hal's in prison because I wasn't a good wife to him." She assumed with another sigh and she threw that letter right in the trash without even opening it.

FP made his way down the stairs and he stepped up behind Alice, rubbing his tired eyes before hugging her from behind, wrapping his arms around to her stomach. "Good morning, honey."

"Hmmm...Good morning." Alice smiled immediately after feeling his touch and she hummed as she rested her head back on his shoulder behind her.

"How are you feeling today?" FP asked, smiling at her.

"I'm good actually. Still trying to wrap my head around Hiram and Hermione being back, but I'm good." She admitted.

"Good." He grinned and kissed her. "Whatcha doing?" He asked, looking at the mail in her hands.

"Oh, just avoiding lectures from my mother of the year again." She chuckled, searching through the letters again for a few seconds before getting bored and setting them back down on the table and turning to face FP, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I love you." She said with a soft tone, leaning up to kiss him.

"Hiram?" FP said just before their lips touched.

"W-what?" Alice looked at him with confusion.

FP was looking over her shoulder at the envelope on top of the pile on the table and he pointed at it. "You got a letter from him and Hermione."

Alice pulled away from him and turned to look at the letter, picking it up. "Hmm…" She opened it, reading it to herself first before reading it out loud. "Dear Alice and FP...Yes, we know he's going to see this too. We would like to invite you to Lodge Manor this morning. We have a business proposition for the both of you and we would love to discuss it in full detail over brunch. Be at our home around nine-thirty. There's a big pay out for the both of you and a few others who are willing to work with us. See you soon. The Lodges."

"What the hell could they possibly want us for?" FP wondered aloud.

"I have no idea." Alice admitted. "But it's probably something that could get us arrested. I'm not planning on sharing a cell beside my sorry excuse of an ex husband. We're not going." She set the letter in the trash with her mother's unopened letter and walked around FP toward the living room.

FP bent over, pulling the note out of the waste basket and reading it again to himself. "Maybe we should still go."

"Are you crazy?" Alice chuckled ridiculously.

"I just wanna know what their plan is. Whether we help them out or not...I'm still curious and maybe knowing their plan will tell us what they're really doing here." He fiddled with the paper in his hands.

"Hmm...I am very intrigued to know what this 'potential' the town has Hiram was speaking of." Alice said, biting her lip. "And my nosy journalist instincts are starting to get a bit anxious." She chuckled. "And I'm hungry and Hermione's got good taste in food. So let's go." She laughed a little, prompting FP to laugh as well. Alice lifted a finger. "But whatever their proposition is, we say no. I don't want to associate myself with criminals anymore than I already had with Hal."

"Understood." FP nodded. "And I can't stand them anyway. Ever since tenth grade, they've been awful."

Alice giggled and wrapped her arms around him again before pulling him in for a gentle kiss.

FP changed into some nice pants and a white button down shirt while Alice put on a casual skirt and shirt, fixing her curls before placing a beige cloche hat on her head, pinning a decorative pink flower to the side of it. They put their shoes on and made their way to Lodge Manor on the other end of the Northside of town. Though the Cooper mansion was quite large, it had nothing on Lodge Manor nor the Blossom's homes, Thornhill, which both had their own large number of acres to themselves spread out along the green grasses and tall woods near the border between Riverdale and the village of Glendale on the other side.

They drove Alice's top-down convertible through the large iron gate leading into the driveway to the biggest mansion in town, looking up at its massive pillars that reminded anyone of a castle. "I always thought they sold this place to some fancy mobster or something. Never thought Hiram still owned it." FP said as he put the car in park, shutting it off.

"Hiram IS some fancy mobster or something." Alice chuckled, opening her door and stepping out of the car. FP got out and flattened the shirt on his chest a bit more, hoping to hide any wrinkles as he fixed his eyes on what Alice wore compared to him. Just as they made their way around the car to take each other's arm, another car pulled up behind theirs and they turned to watch Tom Keller step out of his expensive automobile.

Tom wore a nice gray suit and hat with a small feather in it as well as a pair of exorbitant rounded sunglasses. "Hello, you two." He spoke in his effortlessly husky voice, making his way up to them while removing his hat.

"Thomas. What are you doing here?" Alice asked, looking him up and down with a small smile. FP noticed, soon doing the same but more to compare himself to the wealthier, more muscular man and he internally sighed, looking away.

"I got an invitation from them for some brunch. Did you get the same invite?" Tom responded with his usual chivalrous grin.

"We did." Alice smiled back at him.

"After you." Tom gestured for the couple to go ahead of him.

FP took Alice's arm and guided her up the excessively large staircase leading up to the entrance of Lodge Manor. Tom followed behind, watching his feet with every step. Luckily, too, as FP looked back a few times to make sure he was not looking at his woman's behind. He smiled to himself when Tom passed the test and they made it to the doors, using the beautifully carved knockers to announce their arrival.


	5. Arriving At Lodge Manor

Almost immediately after FP had let go of the wooden knocker, both doors opened for them and the three guests stepped into the grand entrance hall. They were greeted by both Arthur Adams and Andre Meyer, who had both worked for the Lodges ever since their 17 year old daughter, Veronica was born. Adams did more of his work for Hermione and Andre worked more for Hiram. Smithers, the butler, came into the entrance hall to also greet the three guests.

"The Madam ordered me to lead you three up to the second floor parlor." Smithers said and FP and Alice looked to each other with wide eyes at the mention of there being a parlor on the second floor. "Right this way." The older man in the room turned, starting up the stairs with proper posture as Tom, Alice, and FP followed him.

"Planning on wearing those sunglasses inside all morning, Tom?" FP chuckled as they ascended the stairs that curved up at the top.

Tom didn't answer, but he chuckled, never taking the sunglasses off.

They made it to the top of the stairs and Smithers gestured down one of the halls. "It's the fifth door on the right." He smiled at them and they all thanked him, heading down the hall, passing large portraits and paintings of the Lodge family and some from famous artists. Smithers watched them go for a bit before he headed back down the stairs to tend to the preparations of the food in the kitchen.

"This place is like a palace." Tom whispered, still carrying his hat, his sunglasses keeping the bright hallway dim enough for him to see it in a more fancy light.

"It's too much." Alice said, looking around with a bit of a judgmental expression on her face, making note of every detail in case she'd have to write about it one day.

"It's definitely Hiram." FP said with the same judgmental tone. "Now it's nice to see what they've done with money that could be helping the homeless or orphaned children." He whispered more for Alice to hear, not Tom, cause Tom also had a bit of his own wealth.

Just as they were passing the third door down the hall, they could hear the sounds of a bed creaking inside. First, Alice stopped walking, her arm still around FP's, causing him to stop as well. When Tom noticed he was walking on by himself, he also stopped in the hall and turned to look at the other two. He opened his mouth to ask them what was wrong but just as he did, he heard it too. The bed inside whatever room that was squeaked and hit the wall a few times before muffled moans were heard and Tom's eyes widened.

"Oh my god." Alice whispered just as the sounds got a little more aggressive and soon, they stopped. "We should go." Alice whispered even quieter.

"Come on." FP pointed to the fourth door down the hall, the three of them rushing to it when they heard footsteps approaching to exit the third room.

When they made it to the fourth door, they opened and went in, but poked their heads out of the door, looking down the hall toward the third room. Alice, being the shortest, poked her head out on the bottom while FP's head hung over hers and Tom's above his. Soon, the third room door opened and a gorgeous woman with dark skin and raven hair stepped out. "The maid." Alice whispered, her eyes widening as they watched the woman in the maid's outfit fix her messy hair and her smudged lipstick with a smirk on her face.

Tom's wide eyes immediately softened at the sight of her. His heart skipping a beat as he noticed how beautiful she was, all his other thoughts disappearing completely as he slowly reached a hand up to take off his sunglasses finally. Getting a better look at the stunning African American woman.

"Wait...Sierra." A voice from inside the room sounded, getting closer to the door. "Don't forget your shoes." Just as the three hiding guests saw the shoes dangling on two fingers in the doorway of that third room, their jaws dropped at the sight of who it was that held them up for Sierra to take.

"Thank you, Mrs. Lodge." Sierra said, taking her white maid shoes back from Hermione, who stood in the doorway with her own messy hair and smudged makeup, wearing just her undergarments, a strap of her brassiere falling off her shoulder.

"Remember…" Hermione began to say with a smirk. "Call me Hermione." She winked and stole a kiss from the other woman.

"But I'm not supposed to use your first name while I'm working." Sierra responded.

"Says who?" A third voice sounded and FP, Alice, and Tom were even more shocked to see Hiram stepping up behind Hermione in just his boxers.

Sierra's head dropped a little, blushing as the married couple looked at her suggestively. "Th-thank you again for giving me the job, Mr. and Mrs.-I...I mean Hiram and Hermione." Sierra spoke with her eyes down.

Hiram stepped around Hermione to take Sierra's chin between his fingers, lifting her head to look into her chocolate brown eyes and he gently kissed her. "Our pleasure." Hiram winked at her and then so did Hermione. "Back to work, seniora." Hiram said with a smirk and Sierra nodded, biting her lip and heading down the hall toward the stairs.

Alice, Tom, and FP all hid their heads again in case Hiram or Hermione would see them and they closed the door to the massive guest bedroom they had stumbled into.

"Did we really just see that?" Alice asked FP. "Did that really just happen?"

"I think it did." FP nodded.

"Did you see her?" Tom said in a soft voice. "Do you know Sierra?" He asked the other two who were clearly not listening to him.

"Hiram and Hermione just had a threesome with their maid." Alice said, staring off into space before shuddering a little and shaking her head. "Oh my god."

"Huh….so they HAVE been cheating on each other…...Together." FP pointed out, addressing all the rumors about the Lodges, holding back a ridiculous laugh.

"And with their maid. I'm-" Alice began to speak, but Tom interrupted her.

"Can you blame them? She's gorgeous!" Tom said, wanting to see her again.

"Okay...We need to focus and get into the parlor before they do and they find out that we just heard them." FP said to the other two.

"You're right. You're right. Tom, come on." Alice said as she and FP headed for the door.

Tom shook himself out of his daze and followed them into the parlor, his mind only focused on how he just fell in love at first sight.

* * *

 **A/N: Hello, yes. This chapter was very "out there," but bringing inappropriate shock value into my stories is my best friend and let's face it, Hiram, Hermione, and Sierra are all super hot. So yes, this chapter just happened. Yes, I do realize I'm probably gonna get hate reviews, but I really don't care at this point. But believe me, it will all be pertinent to the story, so it's not like I just did it for fun (I did). It will have a significant role in the plot line, I promise. Lol Anyway...Thanks for reading. I hope you guys keep me updated on your thoughts! MWAH!**


	6. Waiting

FP, Tom, and Alice sat in the second floor parlor at the petite mahogany round table while they waited for Hiram and Hermione to join them. The three of them had separate things running through their heads after the encounter they had just witnessed.

Alice just tried her best to forget it even happened, knowing that if she did not, she would burst with the information at any moment after leaving Lodge Manor that afternoon. Or even worse….she would write an article about it in the Riverdale Register, the newspaper she'd owned with her, now, ex-husband. She now owned the paper by herself, so she wouldn't have to ask anyone's permission to publish that paper. Which is not necessarily a good thing.

If this were any other couple, Alice would not even hesitate to spread the news of the supposed threeway relations being had with their maid. But this was the Lodges. There were two reasons why Alice now wished she had never learned of the secret they'd been keeping from the outside world. One...Hermione was once her very best friend. And a part of Alice always hoped she'd one day get her back. That would most definitely not happen if it was Alice's word that had begun the outpouring of such private information between her and Hiram. And two...she knew never to make a complete fool of Hiram Lodge. At least not publicly. There were rumors after he had moved to New York to take over his father's business that he had become a very dangerous man and there was even a possibility that he was somehow connected to the mafia. Sure, they were just rumors, so others never bat an eyelash around him, but Alice….Oh, she knew differently. After growing up with him in Riverdale and going to school with him….She could tell that those "rumors" most definitely seemed to hold some truth to them.

FP, however, had only been wondering three things in that parlor after gaining the knowledge of Hiram, Hermione, and their new maid, Sierra. One...how did that even begin? Could Sierra have approached Hiram? Or vice versa? Or did Hermione mention it to Hiram and they agreed to come onto Sierra together? Was it just a one time thing? Or did this happen often with other Lodge Manor employees? Or was it something Sierra had done just to get the job? Maybe Hermione really did have mistresses and Sierra was intended to be a new one, but Hiram caught them and decided to join.

Halfway through these thoughts, FP had decided to move on from such uncomfortable images and he began to wonder what it was that Hiram and Hermione could want with him. Sure, Alice was a journalist and the new owner of Riverdale's newspaper. She basically had the influence of the whole town in her hands. Tom was the sheriff of the police department. He had the law of the whole town in his hands. They both could be useful. But FP? He felt like he was nothing special. He was the leader of the Serpents, but what could he possibly do to help such a successful and wealthy business tycoon? He looked around at the parlor they sat in. The elegant tapestries, the beautifully hand-carved fireplace, the ungodly expensive decor, everything in just this one room was worth more than his trailer, truck, and life combined. He looked at Alice and began to wonder the third thing...Was seeing this place possibly going to move her farther away from wanting to move in with him? The longer he stayed in Lodge Manor...the smaller FP began to feel.

Tom only had one thing on his mind….Sierra.

Soon, the door to the parlor had opened and Hermione stepped in wearing a dark purple, long sleeve polycotton fabric dress made by Coco Chanel that hung just above her ankles. It was quite loose around her shoulders and chest, in fact, seeming a bit large for her physique, but it was made to look so. She wore a long chain of pearls that hung around her neck, falling all the way to her belly button and her silky brown hair was curled and pinned to one side. A heavily beaded headband rested upon it, almost like a loose crown. Her T-strap heels were made of faux-leather, painted in dark shades of blue and white. Hiram entered close behind her in a nice polyrayon suit that was almost purple in color to unintentionally match his wife.

"Sorry we're a bit tardy." Hiram said, stepping in with his hands in his pockets. He followed Hermione right to her chair and he pulled it out for her to sit in.

Hermione immediately crossed one leg over the opposite knee, smiling at Alice beside her. "Damn my husband for spoiling me!" She said in an upbeat tone with a grin. "Hiram's bought me so many dresses, it's difficult to choose what to wear everyday." She chuckled, suggesting that what made them late was her indecisiveness on what to wear. FP rolled his eyes as she joked about having problems because she had too much money. "Hiram. Sit, amor. You know I hate it when you stand while I'm sitting." She gestured toward the empty chair across from her.

Hiram, still standing next to Hermione's chair, looked down at her with a small grin. "I know, mi vida. I was just about to get cigars for us men." He took Hermione's hand, kissing the back of it before looking at Alice, about to do the same, but the blonde averted her eyes from his with her nose, mostly metaphorically, in the air and he internally sighed before going over to the cabinet near the wall by the large windows on the other side of the room. He opened a small decoupage box that rested on top of the cabinet, removing three cuban cigars, the best of the best, and he closed it, clipping the ends of the thick and brown sweet-smelling belvederes.

"Why are we here?" FP finally asked.

"We'll get to that." Hiram said, returning to the small table and handing a cigar to both Tom and FP. He finally sat in his own chair, Hermione instantly feeling relieved and more confident, straightening her posture immediately as if to try and remain at his level.

"Why don't we just cut to the chase and you tell us now?" Alice demanded. "We all know you're not the type to actually care about catching up with old pals, so just tell us what you need us for and we'll let you know if we're in or out. So….Talk."

Hiram and Hermione couldn't help but smirk a little, sending each other eyes across the table. Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but before any sound could come out, the parlor door opened and Sierra brought the tray of their food in. She kept her eyes on the tray in her hands in order not to drop it, causing her to miss the heart eyes Sheriff Keller was sending her way.

She brought the tray over to the table, setting it in the center before placing each plate in front of everyone around the table and removing the tray from it. She walked over to the cabinet Hiram had received the cigars from and set the tray on top of it. "I will be back with your tea." She said when she finally turned to look at them, her brown eyes accidentally meeting Tom's blue ones across the room.

Tom softly smiled, knowing that she had finally noticed him and his heart jumped a little as Sierra's long eyelashes fluttered while she blinked and her eyes looked down to the floor, passing the table and heading toward the door.

"Thank you, Sierra." Hermione said genuinely.

"Thank you." Tom said in a softer tone immediately after her. His attempt at hiding any thoughts he may have for her was clearly nonexistent and the other two couples exchanged little glances at the sheriff's behavior.

FP and Alice exchanged looks of confusion as Hiram and Hermione both smirked at each other before Hermione smiled down at her lap and Hiram softly cleared his throat.

"Alright, Alice….You wanted us to talk…"

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 **A/N: I know. That is such a horrible place to end the chapter, but the chapter was already running long, so I thought I'd treat this like a TV show here and leave you on a terrible cliff hanger. Lol I hope you guys liked the chapter. Let me know in the comments/reviews section and I'll update as soon as I possibly can. Love you all. MWAH!**


	7. What's The Harm?

**A/N: Hey, guys. I'm so sorry it's been so long. I had several things stopping me from writing. One...I had a massive wave of depression wash over me for no apparent reason. Two...I had a bad case of writer's block. Three...I was dealing with stress over bills that need to be paid and doctor's appointments which I couldn't pay for. Four...I just got cast in the lead role of a community theatre play in my town so I've been dealing with that. Five...I had to retake some acting classes at my Talent Agency because I need to renew my contract ASAP, which btw I'm sure I won't meet the deadline cause I am stressed AF! And six...Time is not my friend in all of this. Clearly I have a full plate and it sounds silly saying that considering I spend most of my time in my bed just being depressed or anxious, but that also steals time from you. Mental Illness sucks! Anyway….None of you asked for my life story so here's the one you came here for. Lol I hope you enjoy this new chapter. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things, so forgive me if this chapter is not the best. Love you guys! MWAH!**

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The room fell silent for some time once Hiram and Hermione finished explaining the plot to their plan to Tom, FP, and Alice. Alice kept her hands folded together in her lap under the table with one leg crossed over the other as she just ran through the plan again in her head. Tom was leaning back in his chair with his hat in his lap as he rested one hand on top of it, the other one on the table in front of him, lightly tapping one of his fingers against the table top. FP held his cigar in one hand as he sat up straighter than the other two guests, conscious of his posture in this very prim and proper house.

At one point, Tom opened his mouth to speak, no sound coming out before he closed it again, letting out a small sigh. Alice did a lot of thinking before she could respond, knowing that she had to choose her words wisely around these two and FP just stared down at the table with no intent to talk at all.

Soon, Alice couldn't bear the silence anymore and she looked to Tom. "Is this legal?"

Tom finally snapped out of his little daze and looked into Alice's eyes, letting out another sigh followed by a small hum. "Well…" He paused for awhile, pretty much giving them the answer with his silence.

Alice took in a short breath before shaking her head to look at the Lodges. "Absolutely not. I'm not risking this. FP and I have families we have to think about."

"And so do I." Tom mentioned. "After Kevin's mother passed away...I'm all he has left. I can't do something like this. I could lose my job and my son."

"We understand that. But that's why we need you on the inside, Tom. So we don't get caught. The Feds won't even care about a little town like Riverdale." Hiram spoke confidently.

"I'm sorry. The Feds?" Alice said, unfamiliar with the term.

"He means the FBI." Tom answered. "The Federal Bureau of Investigation. President Roosevelt started this new law organization to catch national criminals. Mobsters. Right now they're only focused on larger cities where more crime takes place." The sheriff answered with incertitude and a hint of caution in his voice.

"Exactly why Riverdale is the perfect place for this to work." Hermione jumped in.

"Yes, but...what you're doing will make this town grow into one of the big cities the Feds come after. Maybe you should consider that before pursuing this." Tom warned.

"That's also where you come in, Tom. By the time that happens, you will have been promoted all the way up to an FBI detective, or agent, as they are calling them...and you can stop the Feds from catching us on the inside." Hiram explained.

"Hmm...I don't know. It all still sounds too risky. This won't just be some minor crime by then, Hiram. By then, I will have committed a crime directly against President Roosevelt. My punishment will be more severe than all of yours. I'm saying no."

"At least give it some thought." Hermione suggested. "It's a good deal, Tom."

Right at that moment, Sierra stepped in to take their half empty plates and FP's completely empty one as Tom stood, placing his hat back on his head. He softly smiled at Sierra and she smiled to herself, never looking up at him, but feeling his eyes on her and she continued to clean, refusing to make eye contact with him.

Soon, Tom snapped out of it again and looked down at the Lodges. "Thank you for brunch and for considering me. But if I were you...I'd call the whole thing off. Look around. You have it good. Take some time for your daughter. Be a family. You never know how much time you have left. Especially when dealing with the law in….in whatever way you do. This will only hurt you in the long run." He grabbed ahold of his sunglasses. "And don't think about asking any of my officers to help with this. I will know when I'm being double-crossed."

He looked at Sierra who was almost finished cleaning, though she was entranced by him, almost caught staring and she knew it the moment he winked at her and headed for the door. She looked away and cleared her throat, finishing placing everything on the tray before going out after him with the full silver tray in her hands.

Tom was halfway down the hall when he heard small rattlings behind him. He turned to see Sierra doing her best to balance the dishes atop the tray and he stopped, waiting for her to reach him though her eyes were low and she knew better than to look him in the eye.

"You look like you could use a hand. Are you the only-" Tom began to ask, but Sierra interrupted him.

"Yes, sir. It's just me." She finally made it over to him and tried to step around, but when she went right, Tom went left to block her and when she went left, Tom went right, chuckling a little causing Sierra to stand completely still. "May I please pass?" She asked him a bit shyly, still not looking into his eyes.

"Wait...Sierra, is it?" He asked in a sweet voice. Though he got no answer, he knew the truth because he'd heard Hermione say her name earlier. "I'm Tom. Tom Keller."

She still didn't look up at him, but she smiled. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Keller."

"No. Just Tom. Please." He extended a hand for her to shake it, but then remembered that her hands were full. "Oh...Right." He chuckled. "Sorry."

"It's...fine." She cleared her throat before trying to pass him again, but he wouldn't let her. She finally sighed a little and looked up into his eyes, about to say something snarky before she got lost in them and she felt a swarm of butterflies in her stomach as she lightly gulped. "You, uh...I liked what you said in there. The part about family...It's...It's very true. We never know how much time we have." Her own heart sank at those words, suddenly remembering that whatever this strange man was making her feel, it would never be able to become what she was unexpectedly hoping for already.

"Do you have a family?" He asked her, wishing he could see her hand under the tray to check for a ring, but he couldn't.

"I-I have some work to do." She quietly said, stepping around him successfully this time and turning to face him as she walked backwards. "Th-thank you for saying hello. No one ever does that." She genuinely smiled at him for the first time and Tom's heart skipped a beat at how gorgeous and breathtaking she was.

"Take care, Sierra." He smiled and waved at her as she got further from him.

She nodded in response to the wave and started to turn around, but not before she hit the wall behind her and the tray almost fell, but she luckily kept it balanced. Unfortunately, not balanced enough to stop one of the empty tea cups from falling to the fancy carpet below and Tom rushed over to help pick it up for her. He stood up straight and placed it back onto the tray.

"Oh, god." She whispered quietly with fear in her tone. "Did it crack?" She asked a bit panicked.

Tom picked it up again to examine it and then set it back down. "All good."

"Oh, thank god." She said through a big sigh of relief. She gulped again and for the first time in her entire life, she was grateful for her dark complexion in that Tom could not see how much she was blushing. Her cheeks as warm as the sun seeping through the mansion's large glass windows.

"Hey." Tom said, his voice suddenly a bit more husky than normal. "You didn't answer my question." His eyes instinctively fell to her lips.

She noticed and backed away a little, clearing her throat. "W-what question?"

"Do you have a family?" He wondered.

"Oh...Um…" She stepped away again. "I...have a daughter and my husband…" When she paused, she noticed Tom's expression sadden a little and it saddened her, causing her to stop her attempts at getting away from him and she finished what she was going to say, standing completely still. "He's a traveling musician."

"Husband." Tom said sadly.

"Soon-to-be ex." She decided to just tell him...though she'd never had a conversation like this with any white man before. It was something about his eyes and the way he looked at her...she knew it was okay with him. "He, uh...he cheats on me every time he's on tour, so...what's the point of trying, right?" She lightly chuckled before clearing her throat as her eyes fell to his lips as well.

Tom's brief sadness returned to shameful joy as he heard that and he stepped closer to her, his eyes locked with hers and she froze, her heart pounding. "Can I kiss you, Sierra?" He asked without even thinking first.

"M-Mr. Keller." She stepped away again. "You know we can't."

"Why not? I'm a widower, you're basically divorced. What's the harm?" He asked, stepping close again.

"You know perfectly well what the harm is." Sierra stepped back and Tom stepped forward and soon, her back hit the wall again and it took all her strength not to drop the tray in her hands. "We're from different worlds."

"What? The money? I don't care about that." He admitted. "Or are you afraid I won't get along with your daughter? I'm good with kids. I have a son her age"

"No. It's-It's not that and you know it." She said, getting a little annoyed now.

"Then what? I don't know what else could stop me from making you see the way your husband should have treated you."

"Our skin, Mr. Keller. Our skin will keep us apart. And so will they."

"Who?"

"Everyone." She gulped again.

"I don't care what everyone thinks. And I don't care about the color of our skin. It's the twenties. Things are changing." He placed his hand on the wall by her head and leaned in a bit closer. "Change them with me."

She let out a small sigh, her breath hitting his lips and the sheriff smiled. "T-Tom." She said quietly before biting her lip.

"Hm?" He said, not daring to move until she said it was alright.

"Why me?" She asked, almost in a whisper.

He leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Because you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen….And the moment I saw you….I already knew I loved you." He slowly pulled away to look her in the eyes.

Sierra just ignored everything she knew was wrong about this and closed the gap between them, kissing him as her grip on the tray handles tightened and she whimpered a little, feeling Tom smile into the kiss.

After what felt like an eternity in paradise during that kiss, they broke it and she stepped around him, heading for the stairs to go down into the kitchen with the tray and Tom groaned with disappointment, turning to watch her go.

Once atop the staircase, Sierra stopped and turned to look at him with half a smile as she tried to seem calm after what just happened, when inside she was giddy and jumpy. "Come visit me on my lunch break at three." She whispered loud enough for him to hear. "The maid's quarters is out back on the East side of the guest house."

Tom's smile reappeared even brighter than before and he nodded, putting his sunglasses on. Sierra bit her lip seeing him like that and then giggled before going down the stairs.

When she was gone, Tom almost didn't know what to do with himself, realizing he had to have just met his soulmate. He never felt like that with his late wife. Not even on their wedding day. He knew for sure that no matter what happened….he had to be with Sierra.

Just as he was about to go down the stairs to head out to his automobile, Alice and FP stepped out of the parlor and headed straight for the stairs, Alice descending the steps first with FP directly behind her. "You didn't even say anything in there." Alice said.

"I was thinking." FP admitted.

"About what? We're not doing it, FP." Alice demanded.

"No. You're right. We shouldn't….But maybe it's something to think about." FP suggested.

As the couple continued to argue, Tom headed for the stairs right behind FP, making his way down and out with them.

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 **A/N: Okay, so this chapter ended up being much longer than I intended and more Tierra centric than I had intended, but I'm happy with the way it turned out and I hope you guys have no complaints. I'm trying to dig deep into each of these characters' personalities and who I want them to be in this compared to the show. I don't want them to be too different, but I want them to fit the timeline well and to make them believable in every chapter and every way so that the whole storyline makes sense. Anyway, I hope you liked it. Please leave your comments and reviews down below. MWAH!**


	8. To Have Nothing

**A/N: Hey there, readers. It has literally been almost a full year since I updated. March 26 will mark a year since I posted the last chapter and I am so sorry about that. I got super busy, plus my life got crazy and I had that play to do and the second it was over, I hopped right on board to do another one. Then during the performances for that one, I got very sick. This was back in July/August of 2019. I had a very bad infection in my throat that resulted in me visiting the hospital three times and a separate walk-in clinic to make a fourth visit. Eventually I got better and then once I did, I had some job hunting to do. So my life has seriously been all over the place and my mental health has been up and down and I got writer's block and then eventually lost all interest in writing because of my depression. But now I'm back….I HOPE. Bear with me. I love you all. MWAH!**

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"Not only is it illegal, but it is extremely dangerous. Especially if one of us gets caught." Alice argued with FP on their way down to the car.

FP went to the passenger side, opening the door for Alice to climb into her car while he spoke. "And I agree with you, Alice. I'm not saying that it's something I would do, but I'm just saying that if they DID do it right...it'd be a pretty great plan to pull off."

Alice pulled the car door shut before FP could close it and she put her hat back on. FP walked around the front of the car to get into the driver's seat. "They've got guts, I'll give them that." Alice admitted once FP started the car. "To even think of something like that and share it with other people."

"Especially us. They know we can't stand them." FP pointed out.

"Right?" Alice softly laughed before looking to Tom who had followed them all the way down the stairs outside of Lodge Manor to stand there and eavesdrop on the others' conversation. "Aren't you going home, Tom?" She asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, um...yes. You two have a good rest of your morning." Tom nodded to them once before going over to his own vehicle and climbing in. He watched as FP and Alice drove off before he got out of his car, sneaking around to the East Side of the guest house to wait for Sierra, even before her break at three. He couldn't wait another moment to see her.

"Do you think they're still gonna go through with it?" FP asked Alice on the drive back to her mansion.

"Without you, Tom, or I involved? No...I really don't. They'd really have to be stupid or have something really good up their sleeves to do something so wreckless." Alice admitted her thoughts on the matter. "Who else could they get? Hal? He's in prison. Tom already said they can't use any of his deputies and there's no one with such a big hold on the Southside that could replace you, so-"

"Actually...that's not entirely true." FP interrupted. "I have a bad feeling about Penny."

"Why? I thought you kicked her out after what she pulled with Jug and the drugs." Alice said.

"I did. But she's working for Penelope now." FP sighed.

"So?"

"So….she has money coming in. That means she can easily buy out some of the bastard Serpents if she has to. And once she gets some of them...she gets all of them. Especially since I barely see them anymore. And I know one of these days, they're gonna turn on me and call me out for being a Northsider now."

"FP, that's not-" Alice began.

"This is why I can't move in with you, Alice." He interrupted her again. "I have responsibilities on the Southside. Ones I can't take care of if I'm not there."

"Alright, I get it." She rolled her eyes. "You don't have to spell it out for me….But I'm sorry. I'm not giving up the house that I've worked hard for." She cleared her throat and finally turned her head to look at him in the driver's seat. "The answer is no….We're not moving in together. And that's my final answer."

They pulled up to the big driveway of her house and FP parked the car, shutting it off. "That's your final answer? Really?" He looked at her with frustrated disappointment.

"Yeah. It is." She crossed her arms over her chest, looking straight ahead.

"Then I guess that settles it." FP opened the car door, hopping out and shutting it again. "We're done."

Alice's head snapped to him and her eyes narrowed with a dangerous glare. She watched FP shrug, pretending like he didn't care and he turned to walk toward his truck. Alice frantically got out of the passenger side and went around to stand in front of him, looking up into his eyes with anger. "That's it? We're done? You're leaving me, because I have money?"

"No, Alice. I'm leaving you, because I DON'T have money." He continued to try to walk around her but she just walked backwards in front of him.

"Oh, that makes so much sense." She said sarcastically.

"You really don't remember what it's like, do you?" FP stopped walking and so did she, looking up at him with confusion.

"What what's like?"

"What it's like to NOT have money." He made clear.

"Of course I do." She said, a little hurt.

"No, you don't. I saw you in that house, Alice. You were comfortable. So was Tom. Sure, you both made your remarks about how over the top the Lodges are, but overall, they were just jokes and the two of you seemed unphased by anything else. I was apparently the only one in there making sure my shoes wouldn't scuff up the carpets."

"Oh, FP, that's ridiculou-"

"Ridiculous? What's ridiculous, Alice, is Hermione complaining about how she has too many dresses to choose from so it's hard for her to get dressed in the morning. That's ridiculous and what's sad...is that you didn't even bat an eyelash when she said it. Years ago, you would've rolled your eyes and told her off about it. Or no...the old Alice would've even started a fight. At least a verbal one. I don't even know who you are anymore. You didn't even finish the food on your plate. Don't you remember being hungry? Being afraid that whatever crumbs you were eating could be the last?" He looked into her eyes. "Don't you remember having nothing and feeling completely worthless because of it?"

Alice reached up to hold his neck. "FP, you're not worthle-"

FP pulled away from her, gently grabbing her wrists so she would let go of his neck and he brought her hands down. "I'm sorry. But I can't be with someone who makes me feel ten inches tall, Ali. I just can't." He finally stepped around her, getting into his truck and shutting the door.

Alice just froze, looking down at the gravel for a moment before the loud sound from FP's truck engine snapped her out of her daze and she turned around to look at him through the window of the truck. He looked at her with so much sadness in his eyes, but he put the truck in drive and slowly pulled around the massive water fountain in the center of her driveway.

Finally, Alice's voice returned and she called for him, rushing after the truck. "Wait!" Her voice broke as her tears started to fall. "FP, wait!" She shouted before falling to her knees as she watched his truck get further and further away and her sobs grew stronger.

"Mom?"

"Mom, what's wrong?"

The voices of both her daughters came from behind her as Polly and Betty left the house to find their mother in such a state and they both rushed to her sides, helping her to stand while she cried in their arms.


	9. A Feeling

"Wait, wait...so...how long have you been seeing Mr. Jones?" Polly asked as she poured her mother her second cup of tea in their parlor of the house.

Alice rubbed her temple with her right index and middle fingers as she leaned far back in her satin pink chair. "A couple months before the divorce." She groaned, feeling one of her headaches, but this time it wasn't from alcohol.

Polly finished pouring her mother's tea and she sat back down on the small sofa across from Alice, sitting beside her little sister.

"I had a feeling." Betty admitted. "You got so much happier around that time."

"I don't wanna talk about happiness." Alice groaned again, still rubbing her temple and trying not to start crying again.

"Okay, ummm...We can talk about the time I thought I was pregnant by Dad's second cousin?" Polly joked with an awkward chuckle. Alice sent her a glare and her own smile faded as she cleared her throat. "Okay...nevermind."

"Why don't we just talk about school? Polly, are you gonna go to that hair school in Indianapolis?" Betty asked.

Alice whined. "Noooo. Don't talk about either of you leaving me."

"Mom, what CAN we talk about?" Polly asked.

"Nothing. Just do the routine for me. That always makes me smile." She smiled a bit just thinking about it.

"Mommm, nooo." Betty groaned while Polly stood up.

"Come onnnn, just take my hand and let's do it." Polly tried to coax Betty into it.

Betty sighed with a playful eye roll and she took her sister's hand, standing up and they moved to a more open space of the room in front of Alice, doing an old dance routine the girls made up when they were very young and it had become a type of coping mechanism for Alice when she needed her spirits lifted or when she needed to get her mind off some things. And it worked. It always worked. Making her laugh and smile as she watched her two babies growing up in front of her eyes.

FP pulled up to the small parkway in front of his home, sighing as he looked at the small size of it. He studied it, the lack of a paint job only making him feel smaller. After sitting in the truck for a couple minutes, he finally got out, going around to the back to a very small shed where he kept some old tools. He looked around inside the dark, beat up shed before taking off his suit jacket and rolling up the sleeves of the white button down shirt he wore. Once they were rolled up to his elbows, he grabbed the only can of white paint that he had and one of his two paint brushes, going around to the front of the tiny house, the part people would see from the road, and he began to paint over the chipped ivory that covered the wooden boards of the home.

After a few minutes, his front door opened and out came his son. Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones the Third looked to the left to see his father painting and he furrowed his brows with confusion. "Dad? What are you doing? I thought you said we didn't have enough paint for the whole house."

"We don't. But we can at least do the front for now." FP answered.

"Want help?" Jughead wondered.

"The other paint brush is in the shed." His father responded.

Jughead nodded, going to get the other brush and he came back, dipping it into their only can of paint. "You know...Archie offered us some money."

"No. I'm not taking money from your friends, boy." FP refused. "Especially when their parents are MY friends. I won't even take money from them."

"I know, Dad. But you're gonna have to. You can't get a job and you won't let me get one."

"You're staying in school." FP demanded. "We get by okay. I know that eating a small bowl of soup and a little piece of bread isn't very filling, but at least we're not starv-"

"Dad, Jelly Bean is living with us now." Jughead sighed as he interrupted his father.

"What?" FP stopped painting to look at his son.

"Mom just dropped her off this morning. She's inside right now. Apparently Mom can't take care of her, so she said you have to." Jug continued to paint.

"I-...I can't take care of the three of us. Why is your mother so selfi-"

"Dad, just take the money from Mr. and Mrs. Andrews….Please! You can't worry about being prideful right now." The 17 year old never looked to his father as he continued to paint, knowing he was right but not wanting to look his father in the eye.

FP sighed again, feeling his life falling apart as he started to paint again, deep in thought.

Hermione took a sip of her tea in the upstairs parlor of Lodge Manor as she watched her husband think more about the plan. "So….should we go ahead and contact the others?" She asked him.

"Hmmm...let's give it another day." Hiram smiled to himself. "I have a feeling the three of them will change their minds."

"Alice will NOT change her mind. That woman is more stubborn than I am and that's saying something. And Tom...well, he's always had a good head on his shoulders and he never breaks the rules. I could see FP maybe changing his mind...if it weren't for Alice."

"Trust me, Hermione...I have a good feeling about this." Hiram grinned, taking a sip of his own tea.

* * *

 **A/N: I know this chapter is a little short, but I like where it ended. Please leave reviews!**


	10. The New Girl In Town

The bell over the door to Pop's chimed as more customers stepped into the diner the following afternoon. Riverdale High's infamous trio, Betty, Archie, and Jughead, were having their weekly visit to the diner. With ice cold milkshakes in hand, they continued to discuss the affairs involving their parents. Well, figuratively for Archie, but literally for the other two.

"So your mom and my dad-" Jughead began.

"Yeah. Apparently, they were a fling in high school." Betty added.

"That's really shocking." Archie said, taking another sip of his shake.

"I can't believe they had a fight over money." Jughead shook his head. "Is money the only thing parents care about?"

"Apparently." Betty rolled her eyes. "My mom literally told me and Polly that the only reason she married my dad was so that she and I would have a better life and that she never even loved him."

"Is that a bad thing?" Archie asked, confused.

"Yes, Arch. That's an awful thing. That means that Polly and I are not products of love but of this great big lie. She said that she actually really hated my dad. You know what THAT means?"

Archie looked at Jughead as if to silently ask him for the answer. "That you're-"

"The products of hate." Betty pointed out. "I'm a hate baby. Me AND Polly."

"That may be, Betty, but that doesn't mean that your mom doesn't love you. Or that your dad doesn't." Jughead said, taking her hand across the table.

Elizabeth softly smiled at him before she pulled her hand away from his and she opened her mouth to say something, but the bell above the door chimed again, causing everyone in the diner to turn and see who entered it, whispering a little.

"Whoa!" Jughead didn't mean to say out loud.

"What?" Betty wondered, having been the only one who didn't turn to look yet. She saw the expressions on both boys' faces and turned to look over her shoulder, catching the eye of a beautiful young girl, around their age, stepping into the diner in rich clothing. "Who is that?" Betty didn't mean to ask out loud.

Jughead softly gasped before he whispered, "I bet that's Veronica Lodge."

"Veronica Lodge?" Archie repeated. "Who's that?"

"Hiram Lodge's daughter." Jug spoke as if Archie should've already known. Archie blankly stared at him. "THE Hiram Lodge? You've never heard of him?" Archie shook his head no before looking to Betty who also shook her head no. "He was only the most powerful man in New York City for the past decade. Don't you two read?" His friends both continued to cluelessly gaze at him. "Anyway, I read that Veronica is his only heir and he's planning on giving her his entire company when he retires. She'll become the richest young female in America within seconds once her father signs the dotted line."

Betty turned to look over her shoulder again, raising an eyebrow. "She doesn't look all that special."

"That's because you're judging the book by its cover." Veronica spoke with a small smirk, never turning her head toward them, having heard every word that came from their table the moment she walked in. Betty cleared her throat and turned back around to pretend that she was not the one who said that. Veronica finally turned to face them and walked over to their table. "I'd introduce myself, but it seems you already know my name and everything about me." She said in a sarcastic, sharp tone though she smiled kindly at them. "My mother and father moved me here, hoping that I would finally make some friends considering wealthy teens are honestly the worst. I could never befriend anyone my age. Turns out I may not make any here either."

"Ms. Lodge? Your order's up." Pop spoke, setting her to-go bag on the bar.

"That was fast." Another teen from a different table nearby said aloud.

Veronica glared at them, continuing to smile, nonetheless. "That's because I have so much money." She spoke sarcastically again, sending Betty and Archie condescending smiles before winking at Jughead and she went to the bar, taking her bag of food and she left, the bell chiming once again.

"Wow. She is really rude." Betty said with an eye roll.

"Almost worse than Cheryl." Archie agreed.

Jughead looked at the two of them. "You didn't get it? That was all a joke. New Yorkers have a weird sense of humor."

"And you would know that how?" Betty squinted her eyes at him.

Jughead stood up. "I'm gonna go say hi."

"Are you serious?" Archie asked.

"Jughead, she's gonna eat you alive." Betty protested. "I wouldn't if I were you."

"Well you're not me." Jug grinned and he set a twenty-five cent piece coin on the table before quickly leaving the diner to catch Veronica just as she was about to get into the driver's seat of her bright red convertible. "Excuse me, Ms. Lodge?" He got to her just before she was able to open the car door. "I would like to apologize for my friends back there. You see? This is a small town and they're not used to meeting new people. Especially ones as elegant and put-together as you. We do have this one family here, the Blossoms, who are mighty fancy, but you are still moreso fancier than they are."

Veronica looked him up and down, eyeing his slightly ragged shirt that was missing a few buttons and his trousers that were almost much too short for him. "May I get into my vehicle now, stranger?"

"Oh, I apologize." He smiled sweetly at her. "Let me get that for you." He opened the driver's side door for her and she climbed in. Just as Jughead shut the door, he noticed how expensive the car must be. "Wow. This is nice."

"Thank you." She said, a bit stand-offish before sliding on a pair of perfectly rounded, red sunglasses.

"You know how to drive? You must be eighteen already." He assumed, considering the driving age was no less than so.

"Not yet." She responded truthfully, putting the car key in the ignition. "I have two more months until my birthday and my daddy gave this to me as an early gift. I'm legally not supposed to take it out on my own yet, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him."

"A girl who breaks the rules, huh?" Jughead chuckled. "I do wish I could drive. I won't be eighteen for another five months. And my dad hasn't had time to teach me yet."

Veronica looked him up and down again. "What did you say your name was?"

"Oh, I'm J-" He remembered how elegant she was and bit his lip before grinning and putting his hand out to shake hers. "Forsythe."

She looked at his hand, unsure if she should touch it or not before allowing him to take only the tips of her fingers. "Well, Forsythe?" She pulled her hand away. "Is there anything fun to do around here?"

"Well...There's Sweetwater River. Or the watering hole near the Southside. Though I'm not so sure you'd want to-"

"Take me there." She kindly interrupted with a smile.

"To-..."

"The Southside." Her smile grew.

"I'm not sure someone like your father would approve." Jughead admitted, though it broke his heart to say that about his home.

Veronica tilted her head down a bit so he could see her eyes over her sunglasses and she smirked. "That's why we should go."

Jughead's lips curled into a smile before going around to the passenger seat, hopping over the door to get in without opening it.

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Never do that again."

"Oh, uh...I apologize." His cheeks turned red.

The girl softly laughed. "I'm kidding." She turned the key in the ignition, starting the car. "Aren't your friends gonna miss you, Forsythe?"

He looked through the windows of the diner at Betty and Archie who were watching them. Betty's jaw dropped once Jughead hopped into the car with Veronica and her mouth hadn't closed since and Archie just looked confused, as he did almost all the time. Jughead smiled at them and waved before they both uncomfortably waved back. He smirked and looked at Veronica again. "No, they won't."

"Good." The dark-haired girl put the car in drive and followed Jughead's directions to the Southside.


	11. Partner In Crime

"You mean there are people here who are richer than us?" Cheryl Blossom asked her mother in front of their large hand-carved fireplace.

"They're not richer, Cheryl." Clifford, Cheryl's father made clear. "They're just...New Yorkers."

"That means they're richer, Dear Father." Cheryl smiled, folding her hands down in front of her. "Oh, my bleeding heart can't wait to mean Veronica Lodge. Jason, can you imagine being friends with a New Yorker?" She smiled at her twin who was seated on the chair near the coffee table.

"Moose Mason went to Syracuse once." Jason pointed out.

"Oh, Jay Jay, that's not the same thing. New York City is the richest city in America. Other than Hollywood, of course...Oh, to be on Broadway and in Times Square." Cheryl said in a dreamy voice.

"There she goes again." Clifford chuckled.

Penelope rolled her eyes. "Cheryl, get your head out of the clouds. The closest you'll get to that will be becoming a Chicago actress."

"I will never be a Chicago actress, Mother. I'm going to be big. You'll all see." She did a twirl in her scarlet red dress before sitting down on the sofa and taking a sip of her tea.

"I wonder what Hiram Lodge would be doing back here anyway." Clifford said aloud. "If New York City really was all that great and he was as powerful as they say there, why on Earth would he come back here?"

"Why don't you go over and ask him?" Penelope asked with annoyance, rolling her eyes and taking a sip of her Maple Brandy. "Mmm, this batch really is divine, Clifford, dear."

"Thank you, my love." Clifford smiled at her.

Penelope faked a smile back at him before he turned his head and she took that moment to roll her eyes again, hating it when he called her things like that.

The room grew silent as Cheryl continued to daydream about being a famous celebrity one day and her brother had romance on his mind, causing him to sigh, interrupting the silence in the air.

"What's the matter, Jay Jay?" Cheryl asked in a soft voice.

"You're not still thinking about that Cooper girl, are you?" Clifford asked him with frustration.

"I can't help it. I love Polly." Jason said sadly. Cheryl placed a comforting hand on his shoulder before pulling it away.

"Well...you cannot be with her. It would not be right." His father stated.

"It's not my fault you never told us we were cousins. Had you not kept that a secret from us...we would not have fallen in love. And now it's too late and I miss her."

"We're sorry, son. We never expected you to disobey us and sneak around with the Coopers after we raised you into knowing they were off limits." Clifford said, getting himself a glass of brandy.

"Don't you ignorant halfwits know that telling children NOT to do something only makes them want to do it more?" The elderly woman nearby in her wheelchair said.

"Not today, Mother! Not today!" Clifford warned.

"Shut up, you old bat." Penelope downed her drink and stood up. "It's almost five o'clock. I'm going to work."

Penelope used her self-diagnosed super power to tune out the rest of her family as she went upstairs to grab a few things and she headed out to her car. The voices of her husband and her children sounded warped as she walked passed the living room to the door to leave. Her mind was blank the whole way into town as she made her way to The Maple Club, which was legally run as an overnight hotel, but moonlighted as a secret brothel.

For years, decades actually, Penelope had felt numb. So numb that she had lost all feeling in her mind, body, soul, and heart. Nothing anyone did or said meant a thing to her. It all started back when she was in love in high school. A part of her should have been able to sympathize with her poor son, but the numbness she felt prevented her from feeling the sympathy.

Almost as if she were a robot doing a daily routine, she stepped out of her car, closed the door, walked into the hotel and up the stairs to the top floor. She went into her office and sat at her desk, read over some paperwork and stood up again. A few of her brothel girls showed up for work. The cocktail girl removed the booze from its hiding place and brought it to a serving table. The other girls got dressed in their loose, thin clothing and began to drink the night away. Everything seemed to move around Penelope as she felt stuck, hating this life more and more.

Penny Peabody interrupted the red head's empty thoughts as she approached her with an eye roll. "There is a man here demanding to see you and only you."

"Tell him to take a hike." Penelope replied shortly.

"I've already tried and he's refusing to leave."

"What's his name?" Penelope rolled her eyes.

"He didn't say, ma'am." Penny responded.

Penelope sighed, rolling her eyes again before following Penny out into the lobby amongst the other guests of the club and everything that moved around her stopped upon seeing her guest. For the first time in years, Penelope Blossom actually smiled a genuine smile as she approached the well-dressed man whose clothes actually seemed poor but nice enough to fool others.

"Penelope Blossom." The man said as he stepped over to her, taking off his hat.

"Clyde Barrow!" Penelope's smile grew as she hugged him tight. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you, doll face." He replied as they broke the hug. "You look fantastic!"

"Oh, don't butter me up. How come you never wrote to me like you said you were going to?" Penelope asked, taking him by the arm and leading him back toward her office.

"I got busy. Nellie, my life is chaos." Clyde chuckled as he stepped into her office and Penelope closed the door. "How's my fiery Blossom doing?"

"Well...I had to marry my annoying adoptive brother." She rolled her eyes.

"Hell, Nell. Which one?"

"Clifford. Claudius ran off after high school and Mama Rose did everything she could to keep me here. Lord, all I wanted to do was drive off and find you. Remember all the dreams we had of traveling together?"

"How could I forget?" He chuckled, looking around the room. "You own this place?"

"I do. This is my baby. My escape from the dreadful place that is Thornhill Manor." Penelope stepped around her desk to sit down.

"Do you have any real babies?" He wondered.

"I do. Two fiery red head twins." She admitted, though a part of her wished she hadn't told him that.

"How old are they?" Clyde wondered.

"Just a month shy of eighteen." She said as she took a sip of her drink.

"Oh, what's that?" He asked, pointing to the glass.

"Our company's signature Maple Brandy. Want a glass?" Penelope kindly offered.

"I'd love one. It's been weeks since I've been able to find a good place with a stiff drink." He went over to sit down in the chair across from her desk.

"You should check out Pop's speakeasy while you're here." Penelope poured Clyde a glass of the brandy and slid the cup across the desktop, over to him. "So why are you really here? You always said you'd never come back."

The dark-haired man wrapped his fingers around the glass once it was in front of him. "I've just been reminiscing about you and I and wondering how you've been. I wasn't sure if you'd left or not so I decided not to send any letters in case your witch of a mother got it first." He admitted before finally taking a sip of the brandy with a hum of approval. "Very good. Do you have a hand in making this?"

"I taste Clifford's batches and give him pointers." The woman replied before taking a sip herself.

"How on Earth have neither of you been caught in your lines of work? He makes and sells alcohol. You make and sell girls. All I've done is neglect to return the car I rented last month and J. Edgar Hoover is sending the Feds after me."

"Clyde." Penelope sighed. "You stole a vehicle?"

"I said 'neglected to return.' No one said anything about stealing. I WAS going to return it. When I was done using it. But now, the police are after me so I can't show up and turn myself in, can I?" He had another sip of his brandy.

"Oh, sugar bear." She shook her head with disappointment.

He smiled. "It's been a while since you've called me that."

"So why are you really here, Clyde?" She ignored his remark.

"I-...I need a place to lay low for a little while."

Penelope sighed. "I can let you stay here for a week or two. But any longer and I'll have to ask you for rent."

"That's fine. I'll try not to be here too long. I promise….Thank you, Nellie."

She softly smiled at him with a small nod before taking another sip of her brandy. "So...got any new girls?"

"Mmm, there's no one right now. But I've had a couple girlfriends over the years. None as special as you though, doll face."

"Good." She smirked, taking another sip.

"When I leave...why don't you come with me? We can travel like you always wanted." Clyde suggested.

Penelope looked around, thinking about it. "I don't know. I can't just leave my kids."

"Come on. You'll be happier with me. You'll be happier out of this town."

She looked down at the desk, the room falling silent for a while as she thought about how true that was. She wasn't numb with him. He was her first love and letting him go a second time might as well kill her. She bit her lip, thinking a bit harder before she finally spoke again. "I'll have to think about it."

Clyde shrugged a little. "Don't think too long. I'd love to have my partner in crime back." He winked, taking another sip of his drink.

Penelope playfully rolled her eyes before taking another sip as well.


	12. It's A Gift

About three weeks after the return of Hiram and Hermione, Alice began to receive anonymous gifts. First, an elegant gown followed by a nice pair of expensive shoes and even a bottle of a wine she'd never heard of before. Every gift was left on her doorstep with no note and no evidence of who they could be from. She told herself that if she knew who the gifts were from, she'd return them kindly. Though she opened that bottle of wine faster than she'd care to admit.

"Who do you think that's from?" Betty asked her mother as she stepped into the kitchen with her older sister beside her.

"I have no idea." Alice replied just before taking the first sip and she hummed. "That's delicious."

"What if it's from the Blossoms? They make wine, right?" Betty asked.

"Yes, but Elizabeth, I doubt those awful cretins would send ME wine…..Unless it's to poison me." She looked at her glass for a moment before shrugging in a carefree manner and sipping again.

"What if it's from Jason for me?" Polly said hopefully.

"That boy better NOT be sending you alcohol. You are not old enough, young lady. That is highly inappropriate." Alice said just before taking another gulp of it. "Besides...I've tried Maple Wine and it's terrible. This is perfect. Not too sweet...not too tarte. Just right."

"Who else could it be from?" Betty wondered. "Can I see the bottle?" She asked before just taking it with no answer. She studied the label and looked underneath it to see if it was engraved with anything. "It says 'Luna 1872.' What does that mean?"

Alice almost choked on the wine that was already in her mouth, but she managed to successfully swallow it before clearing her throat and she set the glass down. "Luna?"

"Yeah….So?" Betty said, wondering what the big deal was.

"I'm gonna have to visit Lodge Manor this afternoon." She picked up her glass of wine, downing the rest of it before setting the glass in the sink and she headed up to her room to get dressed.

Once she had changed into a casually loose, mint green gown and hat, she put on a light shade of pink lipstick and headed out to her car, getting in and driving to Hiram and Hermione's mansion.

She put her car in park and headed up the stairs toward the large double doors when she heard faint giggles coming from the side of the house. Alice froze, not wanting whoever it was to hear her heels clicking and she looked down at her feet before taking off her shoes and carrying them with her as her bare feet took her toward the sounds. Through the soft, bright green grass and passed the perfectly trimmed bushes, Alice found her way to the side of the building, grabbing hold of the corner of it to peek around to see Tom Keller, pinning Sierra up against the wall of the mansion, whispering sweet nothings in her ear as she giggled and occasionally pushed his hands away from her tickle spot. The peeping blonde softly gasped and hid around the corner, wishing she could forget what she had just seen, considering her journalist fingers were madly feeling the urge to write about this now. Though she knew she couldn't do that to Tom or his career...or his son. His son was Betty's best friend. She couldn't hurt him or ruin his life like that. Besides...Tom's not married. It's not even a crime. Alice thought long and hard about what she should do. She really needed to tell someone. Anyone. FP would be able to keep it a secret. She sighed, missing him more than she wanted to.

Taking a deep breath, she decided to keep this secret to herself as long as she could and she headed back through the grass to the stairs. Once she reached the double doors, she placed her heels back on her feet and used the big wooden handle to knock on the door.

Seconds later the doors were opened by Andre and Arthur and Smithers stepped into the foyer. "Ah. Miss Smith, correct?"

Alice nodded, stepping inside. "They didn't know I was coming, I hope that's okay."

"Yes, of course. I will go and notify them of your arrival." He politely nodded once at her before heading toward Hiram's study, somewhere on the first floor.

Alice removed her hat, revealing her blonde, bouncy curls as she looked around at the elegance and overdone details of the entire manor. She turned to look at Andre. "May I use one of the bathrooms?" She internally chuckled at herself.

"Right this way, madam." He gestured with his arm first before leading her to the right and down a large hallway before opening a door for her, revealing a bathroom that was big enough to have a party in.

"Thank you." She said in a nonchalant voice as she stepped inside and Andre shut the door.

Alice waited until she heard Andre's footsteps leaving down the hall before she slowly and quietly opened the door, looking both ways out into the hall to make sure no one was around before she stepped out of the bathroom, taking her shoes off again to begin exploring the massive home.

She would gasp every now and then at how big some of the rooms were or how shocking the decor was. She even made her way into an indoor pool which was surrounded by large marble pillars with an arched glass sky-light overhead. Her jaw dropped as she stared up at the blue sky and the sun that reflected in the pool. A part of her screamed to jump it but she chuckled to herself, wondering how she'd explain that to Hiram and Hermione once they'd see her in her soaked dress. She left the room and continued to search for a winery that she was certain was in this house somewhere.

Finally...minutes later, she opened a door that led right down into the basement and she quietly started down the stairs, still barefoot with her heels in her right hand. Once she reached the fourth step down, she heard a creak, though she never felt one under her foot. Curious to see if it was the step which creaked, she lifted her right foot before stepping onto the fourth step again with it and she was right….there was no creak. Her eyes widened a little and she decided to stand completely still, listening for another sound. After a moment in the silence, she heard, what sounded like, breathing. "Hello? Hermione?" She hadn't a clue why her name slipped from her lips. Perhaps it was because she knew how much Hermione loved wine and maybe she was down in the wine cellar grabbing a bottle. But even after she said her name...it was silent again save for the sound of quick breaths. "Hiram?...Hello?" There was still no answer.

Alice gulped before she suddenly broke the silence with her own scream as someone or something grabbed her arm from behind, yanking her back up the stairs. It wasn't until Hiram threw her into Hermione's arms in the hallway and slammed the door shut that Alice realized what was going on.

"You didn't!" Alice said to them with a bit of anger and panic in her tone.

Hiram sighed, locking the basement door before turning to look at Alice, still in his wife's arms at the moment. "We did."

"Are you crazy?" Alice asked them, pushing Hermione away. "You two are gonna go to jail for life."

"Not if we don't get caught." Hermione replied.

"You do realize that you HAVE to be in on this now, right, Alice?" Hiram pointed out. "Or else we can't let you leave."

"You're not gonna do the same thing to me." The blonde raised an eyebrow.

"If we have to-..." Hermione began, though she knew she shouldn't have to finish.

Alice scoffed, not believing them at first before she could see it in their faces that they really were insane and she turned, running down the hall, hoping to make it to the foyer. She took a wrong turn, getting lost before Arthur found her and she turned to run the other way, but he grabbed her and she tried to fight her way out of his grip. Hiram and Hermione made their way toward them, both sighing.

"It's alright, Ali. Don't freak out." Hermione said calmly. "Just think about the money. Think about your girls. Do this for us and you'll be set for life. You could stop working if you wanted to."

"I don't want to do anything this illegal!" Alice elbowed Arthur, causing him to let go of her and she grunted, frustratedly brushing her hair out of her face. "I'm not helping you. That's final." She looked between the two in front of her. "Are you the ones who have been sending me gifts the last few days?"

"What kinds of gifts?" Hermione asked.

"An evening gown...shoes...a bottle of 1872 Luna wine." She looked at Hiram. "That IS your real last name, isn't it? Jaime Luna." Hiram didn't change his expression nor did he respond. "That's right. I did some research."

"Yes, that is my wine. But no, we did not send it to you." He finally spoke.

"Then who did?" Alice rolled her eyes.

"It was….probably FP." Hermione guessed, though she was certain she knew that it was him.

"Don't be so daft, Hermione. FP couldn't afford those gif-" She stopped, letting out a breath as if someone had knocked the wind out of her. "He took the job, didn't he? He's working for you."

"He saw an opportunity...he took it." Hiram replied. "I suggest you do the same."

"Think about Polly and Betty." Hermione said once more. "This is a gift we're trying to give you. They already lost their father. If you do this...you can give them anything they want. You can continue to be their mother. It's a gift."

Alice gulped, furious with FP, though she also started to wonder how good the money was. She took a moment to ponder her decision. Should she say no and risk being locked up in Lodge Manor for the rest of time? Or should she take the job for good pay and risk being arrested?

Suddenly, FP's words ran through her head. She thought about how he noted that it would be a great plan if they all could pull it off and her head began to spin. After another few seconds or so of silence, she nodded. "Alright. I'm in….But who do you have on the police force helping?"

Hiram chuckled. "Tom, of course."

"He wanted to get to spend more time with Sierra." Hermione confessed.

"That's why he's doing something highly illegal? For your maid?" Alice asked unbelievably.

"Not exactly. Um...He heard several of his deputies making racist comments a week or so ago and he said he was finished trying to protect those men." Hiram answered.

The journalist nodded a little, still trying to process what she had just agreed to. "We should have another meeting. The five of us. Since we're all in anyway...we should discuss things altogether again."

"Agreed." Hiram smirked a little.

Hermione nodded with a smile as she and her husband exchanged looks of success.


	13. Laws And Prejudices

**A/N: Hey, guys. Sorry I disappeared again. I got writer's block plus I made three new video edits for Instagram, so I was busy doing that. But here we are again. I know things are so vague right now and you don't understand half the stuff that's going on in this fic, but soon you will learn answers and a few more new characters will be introduced who will all be important in some ways and they'll be significant for the year, 1924. ;) Enjoy this chapter!**

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Two days later, Alice pulled into Hiram and Hermione's driveway to see Tom's car was already there and a newer truck she'd never seen before. She had assumed FP had bought himself a new vehicle with the money the Lodges had been giving him. Ever since she learned about his choice to actually go through with the plan, she'd been stalling to call him. Afraid some fight would break out again about money or him going behind her back to take the offer. Though they were broken up and it wasn't technically behind her back, Alice still felt a sense of betrayal from him...especially because NOT doing the plan was HER idea. So FP taking the offer anyway...made her feel like FP never listened to her.

She made her way up the big staircase into Lodge Manor and up the stairs inside by herself since she'd started to become familiar with the place. Or at least...the front entrance. She went up to the second floor parlor, stepping into the room as she gave Tom a small smile seeing as he was the only one in the room.

"Good afternoon, Tom." Alice said to him, looking around the parlor to see if they had company. It was empty save for her and the sheriff.

"Afternoon, Alice." Tom smiled back at her and stood up as she approached the table. "I was intrigued when Hiram informed me that you had made the decision to go along with the plan." He said while they both sat down.

"Oh, you were intrigued?" She asked in an amused tone. "I was IN SHOCK when they told me that YOU had already been a part of all this since the day they told us the plan. You were so sure this was an awful idea and that your son was too important to do something this risky." Alice made herself comfortable in the chair across from his, folding her arms over her chest.

"Well, after some thought, I realized that if I do handle things at the station the way Hiram intends me to, then we should not be caught." Tom replied, folding his hands together in his lap.

"After some thought or after some mattress dancing with their maid?" Alice raised an eyebrow.

"I haven't a clue what you're talking about, Alice." Tom denied.

"Mhm. I'm sure you don't." She smirked a little.

"We haven't done anything like that. I don't even know her. We just met the one ti-"

"I saw you two days on the east side of the house, Keller." She admitted. "She didn't really look that ticklish when we first saw her, but I guess I was wrong." She chuckled a little.

Tom cleared his throat, feeling his cheeks threaten to blush and he looked at Alice cautiously. "Please don't put anything in your pape-"

"Tom, Tom...Wait." Alice grew serious again. "I wouldn't do that. Okay? That's a very dangerous line I will not cross. For the both of you. Your secret is safe with me and the Lodges. Well...I THINK it's safe with them. You can never tell with the two of them, can you?"

"No, not really." He chuckled and so did she.

"I thought I saw a truck outside. Do you know whose that is?" Alice wondered.

"I think you know whose it is." Tom pointed out.

"FP? Is he here?" She asked.

"He's in the bathroom at the end of the hall."

"Which one?" Alice snorted and Tom softly laughed.

Soon the door opened and Alice turned to look over her shoulder, freezing as she saw the man who entered the room. Her jaw dropped slightly as her eyes gazed at the man's shiny black dress shoes, sliding up his smooth gray dress pants to his shimmering belt and his neatly tucked in white shirt covered by a nice gray jacket that matched the pants. Her eyes roamed the man's physique before landing on his neatly shaven facial hair that outlined his lips that curled into a small smile as he saw her, soon revealing his bright white teeth before she dared to look up into his sparkling brown eyes and her heart jumped,causing the butterflies in her stomach to flutter.

"Hey, Alice." FP spoke with a smooth voice before sliding his hand through his gelled hair.

"H-How long has it been since I've seen you?" Alice managed to choke out, gulping right after as she immediately felt the urge to rip that suit off of him right there and then.

"A couple weeks, maybe." He chuckled a little, heading over toward the table.

Alice couldn't stop staring at him, her eyes undressing him as she bit her lip. "You look like you've been gone a year." She admitted.

"I haven't gone anywhere, Alice." He continued to speak in a smooth voice as he sat down beside Tom so he was diagonally across from Alice. "I've been right here the whole time." He smirked a little.

Alice looked him up and down once more, blowing cool air out of her pursed lips.

"Ah. Everyone's here." Hiram ruined the moment with his own pompous voice as he and Hermione stepped into the room, making their way over to the table with the other three.

Hiram pulled Hermione's chair out for her and pushed it in when she sat down in it before he took his own seat. "How is everyone?" Hermione asked with a gentle smile.

"Never been better." FP smiled at Hermione before his eyes briefly flicked to Alice across from him.

"Y-Yeah...Yeah. Good." Alice said, though now she wasn't so sure anymore if she was, realizing she was missing FP more than she thought she was.

"I'm great." Tom said with a love-sick smile.

"Good." Hiram said quickly. "We have important matters to discuss now that we are all together."

"I have one request." Alice spoke up with a hand in the air. "If we all go through with this...we make this the last time we meet here….We can't let anyone think we're getting along all of a sudden or if things do get shaky with this plan...someone will suspect us. Especially our kids." She looked around at all of them. "I'm sorry, Tom. But that means that you cannot keep coming here to see Sierra. Kevin will get suspicious as well. And FP, I hope you've come up with a good reason that you're suddenly coming up with all this money. We both know how Jughead is with his detective games and crime boards. You're probably the first person he will suspect if something goes wrong."

"I've got that handled Alice." FP responded.

"His cover is that he's our chauffeur." Hiram pointed out.

"Oh? That wasn't in the plan last ti-"

"I came up with it shortly after you'd left, Ali." Hermione interrupted, taking a sip of her wine which was already poured and waiting for her on the table before they'd entered the room.

"Okay...Okay. That's a good one." Alice nodded. "What about the Serpents?"

"It's all handled. They think I'm posing as their chauffeur to find out if they're here to take over the Southside." FP explained.

"Which we are not." Hiram made clear. "We're simply trying to make some more money without getting our hands dirty."

"Without getting them dirty so everyone can see." Hermione corrected. "Obviously selling drugs and alcohol is considered getting our hands dirty. But that's why we have you three to make sure no one ever knows."

"And we're doing this for the good of everyone. Alcohol is not this big evil that everyone says it is. We're just trying to get rid of the Prohibition. Everyone around the country knows that the mayor of Riverdale has been against Prohibition from the start, but he's not smart enough to think of a plan like this. So we need to get into that office in order to make things happen." Hiram said, lighting one of his cigars and placing it between his lips.

"So you become mayor and then, what? You get the president to agree with you about all this and he makes alcohol legal again?" Alice asked.

"If that works. If not...then we go even higher." Hiram said after blowing out a puff of smoke.

"Even higher? Like...What? Governor?" Alice wondered.

"The White House." Hermione smirked, sipping her wine.

"So you ARE aiming for a presidency here?" The journalist wondered. "Last time you said that you only cared about Riverdale because this place was small and the FBI wouldn't check us out."

"Right...But if it comes down to it and we have to go bigger...then that's what we'll do. Getting the whole country on board is what we all want at some point, isn't it?" Hiram asked.

"Frankly, I don't care about the entire country." Alice admitted. "I'm doing this for my girls. I make good money right now….but it's only enough to send Polly to college. Doing this plan could get Betty into a good school as well and though I hate the idea of them growing up and moving out on their own...times are changing and I believe that kids deserve a life away from home….yes, women too."

"Then we agree?" Hiram smiled a little. "Our daughter is going to start her own legacy."

"Veronica has big plans for herself that Hiram and I never even thought of when she was born. And with her ambition….she will make her plans happen." Hermione added.

"As her parents….As this older generation...we all have to make sure that our kids can and will have their plans right in front of them. That can't happen if we sit by and allow this country to belittle them based on their gender…" Hiram looked at Alice, thinking about how she had two daughters. "...based on their financial background…" he looked at FP, thinking about how his kids grew up financially stunted. "...based on their race…" he looked at his wife, thinking about Veronica being a young Latina woman. "...or based on their sexual orientation." he looked at Tom.

"W-What?" Tom said, looking around the table nervously. "What are you talking about? Sexual orientation?"

"We know about your son, Tom." Hiram pointed out.

"We overheard you speaking with Mary Andrews at the speakeasy the night we moved back here." Hermione admitted, drinking more of her wine.

"I-I-" Tom began, looking at FP and Alice cautiously.

"Don't worry, Tom. None of us here will judge you or your family. We are just trying to help. Get us to where we need to be and we can change all of these laws and prejudices." Hiram said.

"You really expect us to believe that this is all about your morals and helping America become prejudice-free and not about you getting more money, Hiram?" Alice asked, not entirely buying this speech. "This town had trouble electing the mayor we have now because he's Italian. There were riots when he won. What do you think will happen to you when you get into office?"

"We can handle it….Because we have Tom controlling the police force." Hermione pointed out.

"In all honesty, I wanted Hermione to be the one to run in the original plan...but a female, Latina mayor...may be even more of a long shot than if I were to run. This is a risky plan for us all, yes...but you three are putting your jobs on the line….Hermione and I are putting our lives on the line. But we're certain this will work. Just trust us." Hiram smiled at them all before taking another puff of his cigar.

Alice thought for a moment while looking around the table. "And the boy?"

"Perfectly safe. No harm will come to him." Hiram promised.

"He's only six years old." Alice responded.

"We will take good care of him. Hermione can be very nurturing." Hiram smiled at his wife who smiled back a little though there was a hint of annoyance in her smile.

"Okay….I will do this….IF you really are doing it for our children's futures. But if at any point, I feel this is just about money or some power play...I will pull out and write a full expose on this and believe me, I WILL find a way to keep my girls and I safe from any threats." Alice admitted.

"You have our word that this is for the good of our kids, Ali." Hermione said, sending her a soft smile and it was almost as if Alice had her old best friend back and she smiled back too with a small nod.

"Okay….Then I am in." The journalist spoke softly.

"As am I." Tom raised a hand briefly.

"You got me." FP nodded.

Hiram grinned. "Perfect."


	14. Love Birds

"Betty? Were you listening at all?" Archie asked his blonde friend before tossing Jughead his dad's old football by the bank of Sweetwater River.

"Hm?" Betty hummed, her eyes barely staying open under her sunglasses as she laid comfortably on the pink blanket she'd brought with her in the green soft grass, staring up at the blue sky.

"Jug said that Veronica Lodge is coming here….Right now." Archie repeated for her.

Betty lifted her head, taking off her sunglasses and turning to rest on one of her elbows to look at the boys. "Seriously? She is? Jug, you know how your dad and my mom feel about that family."

"Yes. I do. But I don't care. She's my friend." Jughead pointed out.

"Okay...Jug…" Betty sat up more, moving to her knees, her whole body facing the other two as they continued to toss the pigskin back and forth. "One afternoon with her does not make her your friend."

"Exactly." Jug replied. "She's coming here to get to know us. So we can be her friends."

"Does she even want to be friends with us? You were better off inviting Cheryl and Jason instead of Archie and I. They'd have more in common with her."

"You don't know that. I want her to meet YOU guys. And I want you to meet her too." Jughead practically begged.

"We've met." Betty forced herself not to roll her eyes as she recalled the moment they saw her in the diner. "And she didn't really like us that much."

"Can you blame her? The first words she heard from your mouths were harsh rumors about her family and accusations about who she was as a person. I promise you guys, she is really fun and super nice." He looked to Archie as if to beg for his help.

Archie looked into Jughead's desperate eyes and sighed. "I don't think it could hurt."

Betty sighed as well, though it wore a hint of annoyance. She moved to lay back down, closing her eyes again, feeling the sun on her fair skin.

Soon enough, they could hear the sound of Veronica's automobile pulling up to the parking spot behind the trees and up the hill. After the engine stopped and the car door opened and closed, they heard small footsteps descending the grassy hill through the woods and down to their spot. Veronica Lodge's presence was immediately known once the smell of her expensive perfume hit the air around them. "Hello, everyone." She spoke with her head held high and a confident smile on her face, something her mother and father had always taught her, growing up in the city.

"Hey, V." Jughead smiled, practically jogging over toward her with the football still in his hands. "Wanna play?"

"With that thing?" Veronica looked at the ball. "No, thanks. I just had my nails done this morning."

Betty scoffed through a chuckle from her spot on the blanket, shaking her head and rolling her eyes behind the tinted lenses of her sunglasses.

"That's alright. Want a snack?" Jug asked instead.

"Maybe later, Forsythe. Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends first?" Veronica asked while pulling off her scarlet red leather gloves, revealing her newly manicured nails. They shined in the sun and the white polish at her tips sparkled as she moved.

"Yes, this is Archie-Archibald Andrews and Elizabeth Cooper." Jughead spoke as he gestured toward his two friends while stating their names.

"You can just call me Archie." The redhead boy said as he stepped over and took her hand to gently shake it.

Veronica took note of the boy's sweaty hands and she, as kindly as possible, pulled her hand away from his and wiped it against her forest-green velvet dress. "Nice to meet you, Archibald."

"Just call me 'Betty.'" The irritated girl from the blanket said, putting her hand in the air though she never stood up to properly greet the other.

"It's nice to meet you too, Elizabeth."

Betty scoffed when she called her that. "Or DON'T listen to what I say." The blonde spoke, clearly irked already.

"Didn't Forsythe tell you? I DON'T listen to anyone." Veronica spoke in an annoyingly prideful tone and the air grew uncomfortably silent before Jughead and Veronica both broke out with laughter. "I'm kidding! Jughead told me all about you guys. You can relax around me. It's my parents you have to be EN GUARD for. Though they're such hypocrites. They're not as fancy as they make everyone think they are. They came from THIS town for God's sake!" She laughed more, Jughead joining in. "What are you all standing around for?"

"What?" Archie asked, still confused by her odd behavior from before.

"Come on. Let's go swimming." Veronica smiled, wasting no time in untying the silk ribbon of her dress in the back and removing it so she stood there in only her loose white slip. Unphased by the way both boys looked at her in her undergarment dress, she smiled and ran toward the river, jumping in with a scream of enjoyment until she hit the water.

Betty sat up, pushing her sunglasses down to look over them with her jaw dropped a little, watching the ripples of the water around where the brunette girl had just jumped in.

Jughead smirked once she hit the water and turned his head to see the other two, chuckling to himself at Archie's dumbfounded expression at what just happened. "I told you guys she was fun." Jug said before taking off his shirt and pants. Underneath, he wore a white tank with one or two small holes and a pair of light blue undershorts that were a bit ragged themselves. Even though his father bought him a whole new wardrobe with the money the Lodges had paid him, for what Jughead knew to be, a chauffeur's job, Jughead still continued to wear his older clothes in order to stay in touch with himself.

In the river, Veronica's head popped up out of the water and she smiled at them all. "Come on. The water's amazing!"

It didn't take long for Jughead to run and jump in, joining her and the splash from his jump hit her and she squealed followed by a laugh. The moment Jughead came up to the surface, Veronica playfully splashed him. He laughed, splashing her back thus causing an all out war between the two of them, one that resulted in some of the water hitting Betty's blanket nearby.

Betty gasped, looking down at the wet corner of her blanket. "Guys!" She shouted, her expression angry at first before their contagious laughter caught her and she finally smiled, taking off her sunglasses and standing, immediately ridding herself of her own dress and she jumped in with them.

Archie smiled at his two best friends and the new girl, just admiring them having fun at first before he soon stripped down to his undergarments and jumped in with them, joining in on the splash war, mostly aiming for Jughead or Betty since he didn't want to engage too much with Veronica yet. He was always a little shy on the inside, a trait he'd gotten from his mother. And he was always quite a gentleman, one he'd inherited from his father. Both traits caused him to think about how he didn't want to splash Veronica too much on their first day getting to know each other because he was too shy to want her to notice him just yet and he was too much of a gentleman to target her, especially in a new place with new people.

One big splash from Betty caused Archie to snap out of his thoughts and he laughed with the blonde, splashing her back over and over again while Jughead and Veronica seemed to focus on each other.

The new girl squealed and laughed along as she turned her face away from Jughead's splashing and she found an opportunity between splashes to move closer to him, placing her hands on his shoulders and she wrapped her legs around his waist under the water, "Stop splashing me!" She demanded through a giggle once their noses touched.

"Why should I?" Jughead asked her with a wink, placing his hands on the middle of her back.

"I can give you a good reason." Veronica smirked at him before cupping his face with both her hands, tilting her head to the side and she leaned in to kiss him.

Betty and Archie both noticed that the other two had stopped splashing and they turned their heads to see Jughead kissing Veronica back as he held her up, her body clinging to his. Betty's eyes widened when she noticed this was definitely not their first kiss and Archie uncomfortably looked away though he held a hint of a smile for his best friend.

After a while, the couple finally stopped kissing and smiled at each other, almost forgetting the other two were there until Betty cleared her throat and they both snapped their heads to look at her. Veronica blushed and giggled a little as Jughead cleared his throat and bit his lip, always a bit flustered after kissing her. "S-Sorry." He said to Betty and Archie. "Did I forget to tell you that she and I are seeing each other?"

"Uh...Yeah. You kinda did, Jughead." Archie chuckled.

"How long?" Betty wondered aloud.

"Since that day….after Pop's." Jughead admitted.

"You've been together for weeks?" Betty asked, sounding hurt that he kept that a secret from them.

"I didn't want you guys to judge us." Jug responded.

"Why would we judge you?" Archie asked.

"Because we only knew each other for about twenty minutes before she kissed me." Jug gulped nervously, waiting for them to laugh or scold him.

"At first, I just did it because he was kinda cute and he seemed like someone my dad would be pissed at me for seeing. But now I'm obsessed with him and his adorable button nose and his yummy lips and perfect green eyes and his sweet little laugh and the way his eyebrows fold when he's concentrating. Oh! And he has a cute butt." Veronica giggled.

"Babe." Jughead said quietly, feeling embarrassed as he blushed.

She giggled again. "I'm sorry, Juggy." She kissed him again quickly before looking back at the other two. "I hope you guys don't mind. I know he was yours first."

"He was never OURS." Betty rolled her eyes before chuckling. "He can date whoever he wants. Though I'm not so sure his father will see it the same way."

Jughead rolled his eyes now with a groan. "I don't care what he says. If he gets to work for the Lodges, why can't I date one? We're not poor anymore now."

"Even if you were, I wouldn't give a damn." Veronica pouted a little before kissing him again.

"When do you guys see each other?" Archie asked.

"Every night." Veronica bit her lip through a bright smile. "I sneak out sometimes."

"And sometimes I sneak out." Jughead shrugged. "It's no big deal."

"If it's no big deal, then why are you sneaking around?" Betty pointed out.

"We're not ready to tell our parents yet. And not because of what we think they'll say about where we both came from. We don't care about that. But because they'll be judgmental about how long we've known each other. And I'm just not in the mood for a big brawl between my overbearing parents right now." Veronica explained.

"And my dad is just annoying enough as it is." Jughead added.

"But when the timing's right….we'll tell them." V smiled at Juggy again. "Right, muffin?"

"Of course, darling." Jug said and they both giggled as if those nicknames were part of an inside joke and they hugged each other, Jughead still holding Veronica up with her legs and arms wrapped fully around him, her face nuzzled against his shoulder.

Archie looked at them with a sweet smile, just so happy to see Jughead that happy while Betty looked at them warily. She was happy for them. She was. But she had read many articles about Veronica's parents and a part of her had a feeling that they would not be as pleased about this relationship as the two love birds believed they would be.


End file.
